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BR  165  .P82  1870 

Pressens  e,  Edmond  de ,  1824 

1891. 
The  early  years  of 


Phri  ot  i  a  n  n  i-  \r 


TI1B 


EARLY   YEARS 


CHRISTIANITY. 


By  E.   DE   PRESSENSE,   D.D., 

AUTHOK  OE  "  JESUS  CHUIST  :   HIS  TIMES,  LIFE,  AND  WOEK.* 


TRANSLATED  BY  ANNIE  HARWOOD. 


THE  MARTYRS  AND  APOLOGISTS. 


NEW   YORK: 

NELSON     &     PHILLIPS. 

CINCINNATI:    BITCHCOCK  &  WALDEN. 


This  Volume,  like  the  preceding,  has  been  specially 
prepared  for  the  English  Edition.  Divided  into  three 
sections,  it  yet  forms  one  whole,  for  its  one  theme  is  the 
great  conflict  of  Primitive  Christianity  with  Paganism. 

The  first  section  gives  the  narrative  of  the  missions 
and  persecutions  of  the  Church  ;  the  second  treats  of 
its  most  illustrious  representatives,  and  brings  out  their 
distinctive  characteristics;  it  is  entitled  "  The  Fathers 
of  the  Church  of  the  Second  and  Third  Centuries." 
The  third  section  describes  the  great  controversial 
conflict  of  Christianity,  and  contains  a  complete  outline 
of  the  Apology  of  the  Early  Church. 

The  Volume  which  is  to  follow  will  have  for  its  sub- 
ject Heresy  and  the  Faith  ;  and  the  work  will  conclude 
with  the  exposition  of  the  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
life  of  that  age  of  fervour  and  of  freedom. 

The  Author  has  spared  no  labour  over  this  book, 
and  has  uniformly  derived  his  statements  from  the 
original  sources. 

He  esteems  it  an  honour  to  see  his  work  presented 
to  the  religious  public  in  an  English  translation 
executed  with  so  much  care  and  ability. 

Edmond  de  Pressense. 
Paris,  1870. 


NOTE  BY  THE  AMERICAN  PUBLISHERS. 


The  five  volumes  from  the  pen  of  Pressens6,  including 
his  "  Life  of  Christ  "  and  his  "  Early  Years  of 
Christianity,"  are  to  form  a  complete  history  of  the  ori- 
gin and  progress  of  our  religion  from  the  advent  of  the 
Saviour  to  the  establishment  of  Christianity  as  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Roman  Empire  under  Constantine.  As  a 
work  equally  suited  to  the  scholar  and  the  popular  reader, 
the  entire  series  is  perhaps  without  a  rival.  The  learned 
author  has  drawn  his  narration  from  the  original  sources. 
His  work  is,  for  that  reason,  quoted  with  profound  respect 
by  the  standard  writers  of  our  day.  At  the  same  time 
his  style  is  so  free,  fresh,  and  eloquent,  his  criticisms  are 
so  redolent  of  deep  and  genuine  sympathy  with  the 
Christian  cause,  with  its  heroes,  martyrs,  and  defenders, 
and  his  doctrinal  prepossessions  are  so  thoroughly  in  har 
mony  with  both  the  ancient  and  modern  evangelical 
views,  that  we  know  no  history  of  Early  Christianity  so 
worthy  to  be  spread  broadcast  among  the  American 
people. 

Of  the  series  of  Early  Years  of  Christianity  the  topics 
of  the  four  volumes  are  as  follows  :  I.  Apostolic  Era, 
which  has  already  been  issued  from  our  press  ;  II.  Mar- 
tyrs and  Apologists,  which  is  now  presented  to  the 
reader ;  III.  Doctrines  and  Heresies  ;  and  IV.  The 
Church  Worship  and  Christian  Life.  These  can  be 
obtained  by  the  purchaser  either  as  the  volumes  of  a 
series  or  as  separate  books. 


CONTENTS, 


TBoofc  JFirgt. 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS  AND  PAGAN  PERSECUTIONS. 
CHAPTER  I. 


PACK 


The  Conquests  of  the  Church       i 

CHAPTER  II. 

General  Character  of  the   Persecutions  of  the   Second  and 

Third  Centuries       ,     67 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Church  and  the  Empire  from  a.d.  98  to  A.D.  190     98 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Church  of  the  Empire,  from  the  commencement  of  the 

Third  Century  to  Constantine       137 

16oofe  ©econo* 

THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  SECOND 
AND  THIRD  CENTURIES. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Fathers  of  the  Church  in  the  Second  Century 216 


Vlii  CONTENTS. 

CHAP!  ER  II. 

PAGE 

The  Fathers  of  the  Eastern  Church,  from  the  end  of  the  Second 
Century  to  the  Time  of  Constantine    261 

CHAPTER  III. 
The    Fathers   of  the  Western    Church,   from    Commodus   to 

Constantine       36° 


TBoofe  Cfnrth 

THE  ATTACK  AND  DEFENCE  OF  CHRISTIANTY  IN 
THE  DOMAIN  OF  CONTROVERSY. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Attack        44° 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Defence  or  Apology  of  the  Christian  Faith       526 


MOTES   AND   EXPLANATIONS         * 629 

INDEX   OF    SUBJECTS  641 

INDEX   OF   AUTHORS,  &C 648 


V**«i 


THE 

EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 
BOOK    FIRST. 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS  AND  PAGAN  PERSECUTIONS. 
CHAPTER   I. 

THE    CONQUESTS    OF   THE   CHURCH.* 

§  I.  Character  and  Method  of  early  Christian  Missions. 

We  have  described  the  rapid  growth  of  Christianity 
in  its  infancy ;  we  have  recorded  that  steady  forward 
march  of  the  Church  which  no  obstacle  could  impede, 
no  danger  daunt.  Under  the  leadership  of  its  invisible 
Head,  it  went  forth  without  trembling,  to  meet  adver- 
saries at  once  skilful  and  strong,  and  as  numerous  as 
formidable — to  encounter,  in  fact,  all  the  recognised 
lords  of  the  world,  its  princes  and  priests,  its  philo- 
sophers and  artists.  Every  conflict  became  a  victory, 
and  the  only  effect  of  persecution  was  to    extend  the 

*  In  addition  to  the  original  sources  and  the  great  ecclesiastical 
histories  already  mentioned,  we  shall  quote  from  Mosheim,  '*  De 
Rebus  Christianorum  ante  Constantinum  Magnum,"  pp.  203-448  ; 
Fabricius,  "  Salutaris  lux  Evangelii  toto  orbi  per  divinam  gratiam 
exoriens  ;"  "  Histoire  Generate  de  l'Etablissemcnt  du  Christianisme," 
translated  from  the  German  of  C.  G.  Blumhardt,  by  A.  Bost,  vol.  I. 


2  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

missionary  field  of  the  Church,  to  give  greater  weight 
to  its  testimony,  and  to  command  for  it  a  wider  hear- 
ing. We  have  seen  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  formed 
but  of  yesterday,  and  still  dimly  enlightened  on  more 
than  one  point,  making  head  against  the  fiercest  storm, 
and  finding,  in  the  enforced  dispersion  of  its  members,  a 
most  valuable  means  of  propagating  the  faith.  The 
barrier  raised  by  Jewish  prejudice  between  the  Church 
and  the  pagan  world  falls  at  the  voice  of  St.  Paul,  and 
in  the  first  impulse  of  their  new-born  zeal,  its  emis- 
saries at  once  go  far  and  wide  over  the  vast  field 
thus  opened  to  Christian  labour.  The  Gospel  is  spread 
over  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor ;  it  reaches  the  borders  of 
India,  penetrates  the  deserts  of  Arabia,  and  touches  the 
heart  of  Egyptian  Africa.  The  great  Apostle  and  his 
companions  carry  it  into  Greece — into  the  great  centres 
of  ancient  civilisation.  It  echoes  in  the  very  capital  of 
the  empire.  Everywhere  flourishing  Churches  flame 
like  beacons  through  the  darkness  of  pagan  night.  In 
the  period  which  follows,  the  Church  retraces  its  steps 
over  this  vast  field,  deepening  the  furrows  and  scatter- 
ing the  seed  more  widely.  Asia  Minor,  in  particular, 
is  made  to  feel  the  power  of  Christianity  under  the 
influence  of  those  great  bishops,  who,  like  Polycarp  and 
Ignatius,  seal  a  heroic  ministry  with  a  martyr's  death. 

In  the  period  which  we  are  now  approaching,  and 
which  comprehends  the  second  and  third  centuries 
of  our  era,  this  expansive  movement  goes  on  yet  more 
rapidly  and  irresistibly.  Christianity  extends  its  con- 
quests to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
at  several  points  even  passes  beyond  it.  Although  a 
certain  exaggeration  is  no  doubt  apparent  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  apologists  of  the  Church,  who  seek  to 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  by  the  greatness 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  3 

of  its  success,  it  is  yet  abundantly  evident  from  their 
writings  that  those  successes  were  real,  and  very 
remarkable.  "There  is  not,"  says  Justin  Martyr,  "a 
single  race  of  men,  barbarians,  Greeks,  or  by  whatever 
name  they  may  be  called,  warlike  or  nomadic,  home- 
less or  dwelling  in  tents,  or  leading  a  pastoral  life, 
among  whom  prayers  and  thanksgivings  are  not  offered 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  the  crucified,  to  the  Father  and 
Creator  of  all  things."*  Irenaeus  writes  subsequently  : 
"  Such  is  the  common  faith  and  tradition  of  tLe  Churches 
of  Germany,  Iberia,  and  of  the  Celts,  as  well  as  of 
those  of  the  East,  of  Egypt,  of  Libya,  and  of  the  centre 
of  the  world. "t  Tertullian,  with  his  usual  fervour, 
exclaims  :  "  In  whom  have  all  the  nations  believed,  but 
in  the  Christ  who  is  already  come  ?  In  Him  believe 
the  Parthians,  the  Medes,  the  Elamites,  the  dwellers 
in  Mesopotamia,  in  Armenia,  Phrygia,  Cappadocia,  in 
Pontus,  and  Asia,  in  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt,  and  in  the 
parts  of  Libya  beyond  Cyrene,  inhabitants  of  Rome, 
Jews,  and  proselytes.  This  is  the  faith  of  the  several 
tribes  of  the  Getulians,  the  Moors,  the  Spaniards,  and 
the  various  nations  of  Gaul.  The  parts  of  Britain  in- 
accessible to  the  Romans,  but  subject  to  Jesus  Christ, 
hold  the  same  faith,  as  do  also  the  Sarmatians,  the 
Dacians,  the  Germans,  the  Scythians,  and  many  other 
nations  in  provinces  and  islands  unknown  to  us,  and 
which  we  must  fail  to  enumerate. "J 

Making  large  allowance  for  the  rhetorical  colouring 

*  Ovde  'iv  yap  oXujg  tori  to  ykvog  avQpoiiruyv  iv  dig  \ir\  dia  tov  ovofiuTog 
tov  aravpujOsvTOQ  'lr\oov  ei>xai  icai  tvxapiariai.  (Justin  Martyr,  "  Dial, 
cum  Tryph.,"  p.  345.     Paris  edition,  1636.) 

t  Irenaeus,  "  Contr.  Haeres.,"  I.,  3.    (Feuardentius  edition.) 
I  "Etiam  Getulorum  varietates,  et  Maurorum  multi  fines,  His- 
paniarum  omnes  termini   etGalliarum  diversae  nationes,  et  Sarma- 
torum,  Dacorum  et  Germanorum  et  Scytharum  .  .  ."     (Tertullian, 
''Adv.  Judaeos,"  c.  vii.) 


4  Till:    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  such  assertions,  it  is  yet  impossible  to  question  that 
they  attest  a  truly  marvellous  diffusion  of  the  new 
religion.  Nor  is  it  only  the  arena  of  missionary 
activity  which  is  thus  indefinitely  enlarged;  the  sphere 
is  occupied,  and  the  missionary  work  is  no  less  admir- 
able, regarded  from  within  than  from  without.  "We 
are  but  of  yesterday,"  says  this  same  Tertullian  in  a 
passage  which  has  become  classical,  "  and  lo !  we  fill  the 
whole  empire, — your  cities,  your  islands,  your  fortresses, 
your  municipalities,  your  councils,  nay,  even  the  camp, 
the  tribune,  the  decury,  the  palace,  the  senate,  the 
forum.  "* 

This  rapid  survey  of  the  conquests  of  Christianity  at 
this  period  will  not  suffice.  We  shall  need  to  pass 
under  review  in  detail  the  origin  of  the  principal 
Churches  of  the  East  and  West,  of  those  which  became 
either  important  centres  of  the  faith,  or  the  advanced 
posts  of  new  beliefs.  We  must  first  inquire,  however, 
by  what  means  these  great  successes  were  obtained, 
what  were  the  obstacles,  and  what  the  aids  to  early 
missionary  activity.? 

We  shall  not  dwell  again  on  that  which  we  have 
already  observed — the  reproach  brought  upon  Chris- 
tianity by  the  lowliness  of  its  origin,  the  poverty  of  its 
apostles,  and  the  simplicity  of  its  worship.  We  shall 
have  occasion  more  than  once  to  allude  to  this,  when 
setting  forth  the  defence  presented  in  its  name  by  its 
apologists.  Sprung  out  of  Judaea,  born  of  a  haughty 
and  detested  people,  who  met  the  scorn  of  the  world 
with  a  yet  more  bitter  scorn,  Christianity,  while  it  was 

'■  Hesterni  sumus  et  vestras  omnes  implevimus  urbes,  insulas, 
castella,  municipia,  conciliabula,  castra  ipsa,  tribus,  decurias,  pala- 
tum!, senatum,  forum."     (Tertullian,  "  Apol.,"  c.  xxxvii.) 

+  See  on  this  point  Neanders  "  Church  History,"  vol.  I.  pp.  60-72. 
Trans.,  Bohn's  Ed.,  vol.  I.  pp.  95-108. 


BOOK   I.— CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  5 

rejected  and  reviled  by  the  Jews,  shared  nevertheless 
in  the  odium  attached  to  Judaism.  It  was  thus  in  the 
anomalous  position  of  bearing  the  reproach  of  the 
synagogue  as  if  identified  with  it,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  found  in  the  synagogue  its  most  malignant  and 
implacable  foe.  It  is  true  that  as  we  advance  in  the 
history  of  the  Church,  wre  shall  find  this  misconception 
gradually  dispelled  ;  but  it  was  of  much  longer  duration 
than  could  have  been  at  first  supposed.  The  simplicity 
of  the  Christian  worship — so  remarkable  at  this  period, 
when  it  had  cast  off  the  Jewish  ritual,  and  had  not,  as 
yet,  sought  any  new  ceremonial ;  the  adoration  of  the 
invisible  without  symbolic  aid  ;  the  absence  of  any 
temples — a  fact  not  to  be  asciibed  solely  to  the 
danger  of  persecution,  but  which  represented  a  prin- 
ciple ;  the  bold  spirituality,  which  grasped  the  idea 
of  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth  as  so  grand  a  reality  ; 
'all  these  characteristics  of  the  new  religion  were  of  a 
nature  to  scandalise  and  irritate,  by  the  force  of  con- 
trast, a  wrorld  given  to  idolatry.  To  the  votaries  of 
a  materialistic  religion,  who  recognise  only  the  gods 
that  walk  before  men's  eyes,  spirituality  is  atheism. 
Unable  to  rise  to  the  spiritual,  the  simplest  method 
is  to  deny  it.  For  such  souls,  where  there  is  no 
idol,  there  is  no  God.  It  was  natural  then  that  the 
Christians  should  be  classed  among  the  impious,  by  the 
worshippers  of  Jupiter  and  Venus.  We  have  already 
mentioned  the  infamous  calumnies  which  attempted  to 
brand  the  worship  of  the  Church  by  travestying  its  most 
sacred  mysteries.  We  shall  presently  see  how  these 
false  accusations  were  flung  back,  by  the  defenders  01 
the  Church,  with  words  of  burning  eloquence,  in  the 
face  01  the  adversaries  and  their  ieeble  gods. 

But  the  grand  obstacle  to  Christian  missions  was  the 


6        THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

universal  moral  corruption,  which  was  ever  developing 
itself  in  new  forms  in  a  world,  the  very  foundations  of 
which  were  unsound.  With  no  fixed  beliefs,  with  no 
faith  in  the  future,  the  society  of  that  age  abandoned 
itself  to  a  materialism  as  daring  as  it  was  desperate. 
Nothing  could  be  more  corrupting  to  the  spirit  than 
this  purely  sensuous  life,  facilitated  by  all  the  resources 
of  a  powerful  and  refined  society,  to  which  nothing  was 
wanting  but  fixed  principles  and  a  steadfast  purpose. 
To  secure  diversion  in  the  narrow  span  between  birth 
and  death,  to  extract  the  largest  possible  amount  of 
enjoyment  from  a  precarious  existence,  this  is  the 
great  aim  of  such  a  life  ;  the  feverish  restlessness  which 
accompanies  it  only  gives  an  added  stimulus  to  volup- 
tuous excess.  We  have  endeavoured  to  describe  the 
fatal  fascination  to  which  decrepit  paganism  yielded  at 
the  commencement  of  our  era.  The  writers  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries  show  us  how  the  life  of  the 
senses  had  become  yet  more  completely  dominant. 
The  pagan,  according  to  the  powerful  language  of 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  drank  in  voluptuousness  through 
every  sense.*  Voluptuousness  adorned  his  dwelling 
with  unchaste  images,  it  inspired  the  syren  music 
of  his  feasts,  it  reigned  supreme  in  the  theatre.  It 
mingled  with  the  blood  in  his  veins.  "  Like  the  syren 
of  the  Odyssey,"  says  Clement  in  another  place,  "it 
sends  forth  a  seductive  sound ;  but  the  waters  on  to 
which  it  lures  the  listener  flow  over  hidden  fire.  The 
indulgence  of  sensuality  has  become  universal,  and  its 
effect  is  to  destroy  the  man  and  keep  him  from  the 
truth."  f     "You   hear  that  voice,"  again  he  exclaims  ; 

*  Clement  of  Alexandria,  "  Protrept,"  c.  iv.  §  61. 
t    \>v '  rbv  &v9pu>7rov,  rijc  dXiffeiac  atroTpkirei.      (Clement  of  Alex- 
andria. -  Protrept.,"  c.  xii.  §  116.) 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  7 

"  O  mariner,  you  hear  it  ;  and  it  pleases  you.*  Pass 
away  from  it;  shut  your  ears  against  its  deathful  music. 
If  you  will,  you  may  escape,  only  bind  yourself  to 
the  Saving  raft."t  But  this  raft  was  the  cross — the  cross 
which  represented  the  voluntary  self-sacrifice  of  the 
Christian,  no  less  than  that  of  the  Redeemer.  This 
alone  reveals  what  a  gulf  the  voluptuous  pagan  had  to 
cross,  before  he  could  enroll  himself  beneath  such  a 
standard. 

There  was  yet  another  form  of  the  voluptuous, 
more  refined  than  the  merely  sensual,  which  alienated 
many  minds  from  Christianity.  This  was  that  extrava- 
gant love  of  beauty  of  form,  which  had  always  dis- 
tinguished the  Hellenic  race,  and  which  it  had  imparted 
to  the  degenerate  Romans.  In  an  age  of  decadence, 
the  form  of  the  idea  is  esteemed  far  more  highly  than 
the  idea  itself.  The  surfeited  soul,  like* the  surfeited 
palate,  craves  the  piquant,  the  highly  dressed.  Sim- 
plicity of  expression  excites  only  contempt,  and  the 
noblest  thoughts  pass  unheeded  unless  surcharged  with 
ornament.  The  Fathers  of  the  Church  have  repeatedly 
pointed  out  this  intellectual  epicurism,  as  one  of  the 
great  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  Christianity.  The 
noble  language  of  the  pagan  philosophers  seemed  to 
Justin  Martyr  a  bait,  which  would  decoy  many  souls  to 
death. t  Celsus,  the  great  opponent  of  Christianity, 
heaps  his  most  biting  sarcasms  on  the  vulgarity  of  the 
form,  by  which,  according  to  him,  truth  is  degraded  in 
the  Gospel ;  on  the  incorrectness  and  barbarism  of  the 
style    of  the    sacred   writings,    and    on   their  want   of 

*  "E-rrmveTcre,  w  valuta.  (Clement  of  Alexandria,  "  Protrept," 
c.  xii.  §  116.)  t  'IV  ZvXq}  -Kpo(TCtcei.uvoQ.     (Ibid.) 

X  "Q<T7rep  ctXeap  rtjv  evyXwTTiav.  (Justin,  "  Ad.  Grasc.  Cohortatio," 
p.  44.) 


8  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

logical  force.  While  in  order  to  sustain  his  argument 
he  exaggerates  the  somewhat  bald  simplicity  of  the  apos- 
tolic writings,  he  yet  faithfully  represents  the  natural 
repugnance  of  the  Hellenic  race  to  a  book,  which, 
like  the  lowly  Redeemer  whom  it  revealed  to  the  world, 
made  no  pretence  to  the  glory  or  excellency  of  human 
wisdom.  Greece  had  drunk  draughts  too  intoxicating 
to  appreciate  the  purity  of  the  living  water.  Those 
only  who  were  thirsting  for  pardon  and  peace,  drew 
near  to  the  Divine  fountain.  It  had  no  charm  for  the 
epicureans  of  philosophy  and  art. 

To  these  general  causes  of  aversion  to  Christianity 
may  be  added  others,  which  were  peculiar  to  the  age 
of  which  we  are  about  to  speak.  We  shall  find  the 
paganism  of  the  second  and  third  centuries  of  our  era, 
assuming  more  and  more  a  character  of  gloomy  and 
fierce  fanaticism.  A  desperate  effort  was  unquestion- 
ably made  at  this  period  to  revive  old  religious  beliefs. 
The  incredulity  which  at  one  time,  as  we  have  noted, 
came  in  like  a  flood,  could  not  long  maintain  its  ground 
against  the  power  of  superstition.  Superstition  spreads 
from  class  to  class,  and  from  the  lowest  stratum  of  the 
ignorant  populace,  it  rises  to  the  elevated  sphere  where 
philosophy  and  science  have  long  reigned  alone.  Phi- 
losophers and  lettered  men  cannot  resist  the  stream. 
Alexandria  becomes  the  centre  of  this  reaction  of 
paganism.  It  is  not  certain  old  religious  forms  which 
are  revived;  it  is  the  old  religion  of  the  old  world 
surviving  in  its  essence  the  decay  of  its  various  embodi- 
ments. Nature  becomes  the  supreme  object  of  worship — 
Nature,  the  mysterious  Isis,  before  whom  for  so  many 
ages  the  whole  East  has  bowed  down.  Rising  above 
Hellenic  humanism  to  the  sublime  pantheism  of  India, 
borrowing  its  asceticism  and  mysticism  to   set  in  the 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  g 

scale  against  Christian  piety,  the  pagan  reaction 
succeeds  in  baffling  the  aspirations  of  more  than  one 
noble  soul.  In  its  popular  form  it  misleads  the  people 
by  mere  trickery.  It  inspires  unlimited  confidence  in 
the  hidden  forces  of  nature,  and  makes  the  multitude 
more  and  more  the  dupe  of  magicians,  who  gratify  the 
taste  for  the  marvellous,  and  promise,  deliverance  from 
physical  evils  without  demanding  any  moral  reforma- 
tion. Magic  opposes  its  false  miracles  to  the  true 
miracles  of  Christianity,  and  thus  holds  the  many 
enchained  at  the  foot  of  those  very  altars,  which,  a 
century  before,  seemed  to  totter  at  the  mere  touch  of  a 
new  faith.  This  religion  without  morality,  which 
gratifies  all  the  evil  inclinations,  while  it  frustrates  all 
the  true  instincts  of  man's  nature,  will  resist  Chris- 
tianity with  weapons  worthy  of  itself.  It  will  stir  up 
the  fierce  passions  of  the  multitude,  and  lash  them  into 
blind  and  frenzied  fury.  It  will  stimulate  that  thirst 
for  blood,  which  seizes  men  as  it  does  savage  beasts  when 
they  have  once  tasted  it ;  it  will  feed,  by  the  cruel  sports 
of  the  amphitheatre,  the  fierce  delight  in  human  agony. 

Christianity  had,  as  we  know,  powerful  influences  to 
bring  to  bear  on  these  obstacles,  apart  from  the  in- 
trinsic force  of  truth. 

The  element  of  strangeness,  of  absolute  novelty  which 
it  presented  in  a  state  of  society  so  profoundly  corrupt, 
made  it  the  rallying  point  of  sympathies  as  strong  as 
were  the  hostile  feelings  it  awakened  ;  while  the  very 
opposition  which  it  encountered  served  to  sustain  its 
severe  morality,  and  to  preserve  it  from  the  enervation 
of  compromise.  It  thus  retained  its  originality,  and  its 
sublime  ideal  gleamed  in  loftv  purity  above  the  encom- 
passing darkness.  It  seemed  still  like  one  coming  up 
out  oi  the  wilderness.     The  sharp  contrast  between  the 

2 


10  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Church  and  the  whole  life  around  it,  could  scarcely 
fail  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the  most  thoughtless. 
The  Church  might  be  spoken  against,  it  could  hardly 
be  despised ;  and  souls,  wearied  with  the  vices  of 
paganism,  naturally  fled,  to  lay  hold  of  this  new  hope. 
The  Church  was  the  city  of  refuge,  built  upon  a  hill, 
with  gates  open  to  all,  in  whom  there  had  arisen  a 
thirst  after  the  divine.  Whether  in  hatred  or  in  love, 
all  eyes  were  drawn  towards  it  by  its  moral  elevation  ; 
and  the  very  hatred  of  its  enemies  became  of  service 
to  it,  by  calling  into  demonstration  the  power  of  its 
faith.  The  steadfast  witness  of  the  Church  —  might 
we  not  rather  say  its  martyrdom — during  three  centuries, 
brought  to  light  an  assurance  so  immoveable  of  the 
possession  of  the  truth,  that  souls,  weary  of  doubt,  and 
craving  after  a  settled  belief,  were  irresistibly  attracted 
by  it.  Hence  that  eloquence  of  the  martyr's  death  of 
which  Tertullian  speaks.  We  shall  see  how  powerful 
was  the  apology  of  the  circus  and  the  stake  through- 
out the  whole  of  this  period,  especially  with  the  sublime 
commentary  added  by  the  great  defenders  of  the  faith. 
In  the  resignation  of  an  innocent  victim  there  is  ever 
a  mysterious  attraction.  The  meekness  of  the  martyr's 
gaze  is  more  terrible  to  bear  than  the  flashes  of  hatred 
or  the  fire  of  wrath.  If  the  cross,  presented  to  the  adora- 
tion of  the  world,  was  one  of  the  great  stumbling-blocks 
of  primitive  Christianity,  it  was  also  one  of  its  mightiest 
influences.  The  dying  God  won  from  men's  hearts  that 
which  had  been  withheld  from  the  awful  God  of  Sinai; 
and  the  Church  achieved  its  most  glorious  victories  in 
the  days  of  its  most  complete  self-sacrifice.  To  use  the 
figure  of  Justin  Martyr,  it  was  like  a  vine  which  is  the 
more  fruitful  the  more  it  bleeds  under  the  pruning  knife.* 
*  Justin  Martyr,  "  Dial,  cum  Tryph.,"  p.  337. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  II 

If  suffering  was  thus  a  powerful  argument  advancing 
the  cause  of  Christianity,  the  joy  of  the  Christians — 
their  pure  and  lively  joy  in  having  found  the  truth — 
pleaded  no  less  effectually.  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
speaking  of  this  blessed  illumination  of  conversion  as 
set  forth  in  baptism,  says :  "  We  are  like  those  who 
awake  out  of  a  deep  sleep,  or  rather,  like  those  from 
whose  eyes  a  film  has  fallen.  They  see  all  things 
clearly,  not  because  there  is  more  light  without  (over 
which  they  have  no  control),  but  because  from  their 
own  vision  the  darkening  veil  is  gone.  The  eye  of  our 
souls  has  become  strong  and  clear ;  the  Holy  Ghost 
comes  down  upon  us,  and  we  discern  the  things  which 
are  of  God."*  Such  joy  could  not  be  hidden  in  the 
heart,  and  the  famous  ''Eureka"  of  Archimedes,  applied 
to  the  grandest  of  truths,  sounded  from  end  to  end  of 
the  empire,  wherever  the  light  of  the  Gospel  had  pene- 
trated. This  lively  joy,  awakened  by  the  discovery  of 
truth,  is  expressed  with  great  beauty  in  one  of  the 
symbolic  representations,  found  in  the  catacombs  or  on 
the  tombs  of  the  early  Christians.  It  depicts  the  rock 
smitten  by  Moses,  suddenly  opening  and  sending  forth 
a  stream  of  pure  water,  which  flows  over  the  desert 
sands.  The  painting  is  rude,  but  there  is  an  indescrib- 
able beauty  in  the  expression  of  the  Israelites  rushing 
to  the  fountain.  Every  feature  bespeaks  holy  eagerness, 
unutterable  joy,  and  they  drink  in  long  draughts,  that 
which  is  indeed  to  them  the  water  of  life.  The  symbol  is 
easy  of  interpretation.  The  first  Christians  sought  thus 
to  set  forth  the  joy  unspeakable  of  having  seen  the 
fountain  of  divine  life  opened  in  a  desert,  a  thousand 
times  more  waste  and  arid  than  that   crossed  by  the 

*  "Qcnrep  oi  tov  vttvov  cnroaeKTii fitvoi  e»9tu)g  typrjyopamv.  (Clement 
of  Alexandria,  "  Paedagog,"  book  I.  c.  vi.  §  28.) 


12  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Israelites.  The  deep  thirst  of  their  souls,  and  the  glad- 
ness realised,  equalling  and  surpassing  all  that  they  had 
suffered — all  this  is  conveyed  in  these  rude  paintings 
and  sculptures,  with  a  freshness  and  force  which  make 
them  precious  records  of  the  faith  of  the  first  centuries. 
They  do  more  than  many  learned  dissertations  to 
explain  the  rapid  spread  of  Christianity  in  primitive 
times. 

In  spite  of  all  the  obstacles  we  have  enumerated, 
Christian  missions  found  more  than  one  element  of 
support  in  the  condition  of  men's  minds  in  that  age  of 
decadence.  The  reaction  in  favour  of  paganism  was 
not  the  only  current  carrying  men  along.  Many 
thoughtful  minds  estimated  it  at  its  true  value,  and 
wearied  of  creeds  so  full  of  emptiness,  showed  them- 
selves disposed  to  accept  Christianity.  Such  a  disposi- 
tion of  mind  was  not  confined  to  the  higher  classes; 
unlettered  men  and  women,  the  poor,  and  all  those  who 
were  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  old  society,  all  those 
too  who  were  bowed  down  under  the  burden  of  its  vices, 
felt  drawn  towards  the  Church  ;  and  it  was  one  of  the 
great  elements  of  power  in  the  new  religion  that  it 
addressed  itself  specially  to  such,  and  offered  to  them  a 
doctrine  so  simple  as  to  be  within  the  reach  of  all.  Its 
very  motto  might  have  been  those  touching  words  of 
the  Master,  "Suffer  the  little  ones  to  come  unto  me." 
The  adaptation  of  Christianity  to  the  popular  mind, 
with  which  it  was  bitterly  reproached  by  pagan  philo- 
sophers accustomed  to  close  the  doors  ol  their  schools 
against  the  profanum  vulgus,  gave  it  access  to  the 
humblest  quarters.  "  We  boldly  avow,"  said  Origen, 
"  that  it  is  our  design  to  educate  all  men  in*the  school 
of  the  Divine  Word,  so  that  the  youngest  may  find 
instruction    suited    to   them,  and  the   very  slave   may 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  I 

learn  how,  in  receiving  freedom  of  the  soul,  he  may  b 
made  free  indeed.  We  Christians  hold  ourselves  debtor 
alike  to  the  Greeks  and  barbarians,  to  the  wise  and  t 
the  unwise.  It  is  our  aim,  that  every  creature  gifte 
with  reason  may  be  healed  by  the  virtue  of  the  Wore 
and  be  brought  into  friendship  with  God."*  "  Nc 
only  the  rich,"  says  Tatian,  "  but  the  poor  are  foun 
among  the  scholars  of  our  philosophy,  and  we  as 
nothing  at  their  hands.  We  admit  as  hearers  all  wh 
are  willing  to  come — even  women  old  and  young.  Ou 
modest  maidens  talk  of  divine  things  as  they  turn  th 
spinning  wheel. "t 

It  naturally  follows  from  the  fact  that  the  nc 
religion  thus  addressed  itself  especially  to  the  poor  an 
the  ignorant,  that  the  spoken  word  should  occupy 
more  important  place  than  the  written,  in  the  history  < 
early  missions.  That  it  did  so  is  evident  from  th 
declaration  of  Irenseus,  that  many  barbarous  tribe 
have  salvation  written  in  their  heart,  but  without  in 
or  paper.t  These  barbarous  tribes  were  not  all  beyon 
the  bounds  of  the  empire.  Copies  of  the  Holy  Scripture 
were  at  this  time  rare  and  costly,  inaccessible  therefor 
to  the  unlettered  classes  of  society.  Once  admitte 
into  the  Church,  the  poorest  could  indeed  hear  th 
Scriptures  read  ;  but  the  truth  first  reached  them  i 
the  form  of  animated  narrative  or  fervent  appeal.  It  i 
easy  to  conceive  how  many  of  the  errors  which  becam 
current  in  the  stream  of  oral  tradition  may  ha\' 
been    transmitted    to    the     new    converts,    especiall 

*  O't  irap  t'ifiiv  TrpeafifivovTEQ  rbv  XP10710-1'10^^  ikclvGiQ  (pdcriv  6<pei\eri 
tlvat  EXX/jm  Kai  (3ap{3apoig,  <ro<poTg  Kai  dvot)roig.  (Origcn,  "  Cont 
Cels.,"  III.,  c.  liv.)  f  Tatian,  ''Contr.  Gra;cos,"  pp.  167,  16 

X  "  Multaa  gentes  Barbarorum  sine  charta  ct  atramento  scriptai 
habentes  per  Spiritum  in  cordibus  suis  salutem."  (Irenseus,  "  Cont 
Haeres.,"  III.  p.  4.) 


14  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

those  of  the  lower  classes,  through  the  same  medium 
which  conveyed  to  them  the  grand  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

It  was  chiefly  among  the  ignorant  and  the  common 
people  that  the  artifices  of  the  magicians  found  dupes. 
We  see  from  the  romance  of  Apuleius  how  much  credit 
the  magicians  had  among  the  people.  In  opposition  to 
their  false  miracles,  the  Church  could  show  miracles 
which  were  true,  and  supernatural  events  such  as  had 
signalised  the  first  days  of  missions  were  still  repeated, 
though  with  less  and  less  frequency.  The  clear  and 
unanimous  testimony  of  the  Fathers  of  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries,  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  the  con- 
tinuance of  miraculous  power  in  the  Church  of  that 
period.  Irenaeus  and  Tertullian  speak  of  miraculous 
cures  effected  by  Christians,  and  even  of  persons  being 
raised  from  the  dead.  "  That  some  cast  out  devils," 
says  Irenaeus,  "  is  a  matter  that  cannot  be  called  in 
question,  since  it  is  attested  by  the  experience  of  those 
who  have  been  thus  delivered,  and  are  now  in  the 
Church.  Others  have  the  gift  of  foretelling  the  future, 
see  visions,  and  speak  prophetic  words  ;  others  effect 
cures  by  laying  their  hands  on  the  sick."*  "  Often," 
says  the  same  Father,  "  the  life  of  a  man  has  been 
granted  to  the  prayers  of  the  faithful."  t 

Tertullian  relates  that  Septimus  Severus  was  healed 
of  a  serious  disease  by  a  Christian,  who,  following  the 
practical  directions  of  James,  had  prayed  over  him, 
anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  and 
the  grateful  emperor  gave  him  a  home  in  the  palace  to 
the  end  of  his  life.t     Origen  mentions  miraculous  cures 

•  Irenaeus,  "  Contr.  Ha^res.,"  II.  p   57. 
f  'ExapioQlJ  u  di'GpotTrog  raig  evxalg  tCjv  ayiiov.      (Ibid.  II.  p    31.) 
%  Tertullian,"  Ad  Scapulam/'  c.  iv. 


BOOK    I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  15 

wrought  in  the  Church  of  his  time.  He  says  :  "  There 
are  still  among  Christians,  traces  of  that  Holy  Spirit 
who  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  dove.  They  cast  out 
devils,  heal  the  sick,  and,  subject  to  the  good  pleasure 
of  the  Word,  foresee  the  future."* 

Thus  the  continuance  of  miracles  in  the  Church  of 
the  first  three  centuries  is  guaranteed  by  the  most 
authentic  tradition.  To  those  who  admit  the  super- 
natural element  in  ^  Christianity,  the  fact  presents 
nothing  abnormal.  There  was  no  deep  gulf  placed 
between  the  apostolic  and  following  ages.  The  first 
era  of  the  Church  did  not  end  with  a  sharp  line  of 
demarcation  ;  miracles  did  not  cease  with  the  last  of 
the  apostles.  They  were  perpetuated  for  the  very 
simple  reason,  that  the  circumstances  which  had  called 
for  them  remained  the  same.  They  were  designed  to 
mark,  in  a  visible  manner,  and  by  an  impressive  symbol, 
the  extraordinary  and  supernatural  character  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  they  were  specially  appropiiate  to  the  period 
of  the  Church's  creation  and  formation,  and  had  an 
important  purpose  yet  to  fulfil  in  the  terrible  struggle 
of  the  second  and  third  centuries — that  great  crisis  of 
the  moral  world,  when  all  the  powers  of  darkness 
seemed  abroad.  It  is  perfectly  conceivable  that  the 
miraculous  element  may  again  appear  in  parallel  seasons 
of  convulsion  and  of  final  conflict  between  the  kingdom 
of  evil  and  the  kingdom  of  good. 

There  is,  however,  a  notable  diminution  in  the  pro- 
portion of  outward  miracle  or  prodigy  as  the  Church 
advances  in  years,  and  we  have  already  marked  its 
gradual  decrease  even  in  the  apostolic  age.  The  ideal 
of  the  Church's   life   is  not  the  predominance  of  the 

*  'E%dyovm  tiatuovaq  icai  7ro\\fic  ic'iceiQ  tTnreKovai  Kai  upuxri  Trppi  /xeXX- 

ovtuv.     (Origen,  Delarue  edit.,  I.  p.  311.,  comp.  pp.  321-392.) 


l6  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

supernatural,  but  the  intimate  and  complete  union  of 
the  human  and  the  divine.  The  gradual  cessation  of 
miraculous  power  is  recognised  by  the  Fathers.  Origen 
asserts  that  only  a  few  traces  of  the  supernatural 
operation  of  the  Divine  Spirit  remain.  "  The  signs  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  he  says,  ''showed  themselves  from 
the  commencement  of  the  ministry  of  Christ;  they  were 
multiplied  after  His  ascension,  and  subsequently  dimin- 
ished. Some  vestiges  of  them  still  remain  among  men."* 
Notwithstanding  this  avowal,  we  are  constrained  to 
admit  that  Origen  and  his  contemporaries  exaggerated 
to  themselves  the  number  of  miracles  wrought  in  their 
day.  They  wrote  in  perfect  good  faith,  but  were  misled, 
undoubtedly,  by  certain  superstitious  notions  which 
blended  with  their  noble  faith.  When,  for  example, 
they  attribute  a  power  of  healing  to  the  simple  reading 
of  the  holy  books,  and  the  invocation  of  the  name 
of  Jesus,  they  lower  miracle  to  the  rank  of  magic, 
and  become  believers  in  incantations  and  cabalistic 
formularies. t 

The  miracles  most  often  mentioned  by  the  writers  of 
the  time  are  those  wTrought  on  demoniacs.  Justin 
Martyr  speaks  of  a  great  number  of  these  unhappy 
beings,  over  whom  all  the  heathen  exorcists  had  had  no 
power,  and  who  were  delivered  through  the  invoca- 
tion of  the  name  of  Christ.^  Tertullian  describes, 
with  his  vivid  imagination,  these  scenes  of  exorcism. 
He  says  :  "  Call  before  your  tribunals  a  man  known  to 
be  possessed  ;  any  Christian  will  compel  the  spirit  to 
confess  honestly  that  he  is  a  demon,  even  though  he 
may  have   elsewhere  falsely    pretended    to    be    a   god. 

*  "V.ti    ixvtj.     (Origen,  I.  p.  36.)      Koi  vvv  tri  «x»'»?  iarlv  Trap  dXiyoig. 

(Ibid  ,  p.  700) 

f  Origen,  I.  p.  461.  X  Justin  Martyr,  "  Apol.,"  I.  p.  45. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  1J 

Bring,  in  the  same  manner,  one  in  whom  is  supposed  to 
be  the  spirit  of  a  god,  who,  bending  open-mouthed  over 
the  smoking  altars,  has  breathed  in  the  divinity.  .  .  Be 
it  the  Virgin-  Ccelestis,  goddess  of  the  rain,  or 
Esculapius,  the  inventor  of  medicine — if  (since  they 
dare  not  lie  to  a  Christian),  they  fail  to  confess  that  they 
are  demons,  shed  upon  the  apot  the  blood  of  that  daring 
Christian."*  This  bold  supposition  is  evidently  founded 
on  positive  facts,  traces  of  which  may  be  found  in  other 
writings  of  Tertullian.t  After  reading  such  passages, 
the  conclusion  is  inevitable,  that  many  superstitious 
notions  about  evil  spirits  were  then  accepted  in  the 
Church,  which  took  up  the  current  beliefs  of  that  time, 
only  modifying  them  in  part  by  its  own  doctrines.  The 
passage  which  we  have  quoted  from  Tertullian  is  con- 
clusive on  this  point.  He  represents  both  pagans  and 
Christians  as  agreed  respecting  the  nature  of  the 
visitation,  both  treating  it  as  a  possession,  and  essaying 
with  unequal  success  the  cure  of  the  demoniac.  The 
phantoms  called  up  by  popular  superstition,  in  a  time 
of  universal  crisis,  haunt  the  noblest  spirits,  and  they 
cannot  escape  their  influence.  The  Christians  of  that 
age  unhesitatingly  recognise  as  evil  spirits  all  the 
false  gods  of  paganism,  and  thus  give  credence  to 
the  fables  of  old  Greco-Roman  mythology.  They 
unduly  extend  the  doctrine  of  evil  angels,  and  go  far 
beyond  the  teaching  of  the  sacred  writings.  We 
shall  see  to  what  a  fanciful  demonology  they  were  led 
in  their  theology,  by  their  deep  conviction  of  the  great- 
ness of  the  conflict  waged  by  them  against  the  powers 

*  "  Edatur  hie  aliquis  sub  tribunalibus  vestris,  quern  doemone 
agi  constet,  jussus  a  quolibet  Christiano  loqui,  spiritus  ille,  tarn 
se  daemonem  contitebitur  cle  vero  quam  alibi  deum  de  falso." 
(Tertullian,  " Apol,"  c.  xxiii.t 

f  "Ad  Scapul,"  II.  See  Origen,  I.  p.  471. 


1 8  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

of  evil.  The  Christians  of  the  East  shared  on  these 
points  the  erroneous  notions  of  the  Western  Christians. 
Justin  Martyr  and  Origen  are  in  harmony  with  Ter- 
tullian  on  the  subject  of  the  power  of  evil  spirits ;  they 
behold  them  everywhere,  and  the  great  Alexandrine 
does  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  them  as  the  ministers  of 
the  Divine  judgments.  It  is  not  surprising  that  men, 
thus  prepared  to  see  demons  where  they  are  not,  should 
multiply  indefinitely  the  instances  of  exorcism.  Every 
case  of  madness  they  regard  as  a  possession ;  melan- 
choly, despair — all  come  under  the  same  designation, 
and  instances  of  moral  healing,  which  are  fully  ex- 
plicable by  the  virtue  of  the  Gospel  consolations,  pass 
for  miraculous  cures.  The  sufferers  themselves  share 
the  common  superstition,  and  their  malady  becomes 
to  them  a  supernatural  and  awful  visitation.  In  such 
a  heated  atmosphere,  terrible  hallucinations  were  sure 
to  arise. 

In  short,  miraculous  gifts  have  not,  at  this  era,  dis- 
appeared from  the  Church,  but  they  are  of  increasing 
rarity,  more  rare  even  than  the  Christians  themselves 
suppose,  incapable  as  they  are,  as  yet,  of  discerning 
between  the  really  miraculous,  and  miracles  created 
by  the  imagination.  It  wrould  be  most  unjust  to  con- 
found the  miracles  of  the  Gospel  with  the  pseudo- 
rniracles  born  of  a  heated  brain.  The  mere  comparison 
makes  apparent  the  wide  difference  between  them. 
On  the  one  side,  all  is  simplicity,  strength,  soberness; 
the  miracle  has  always  a  moral  aspect;  faith  alone 
comes  into  operation  ;  there  is  no  approach  to  incanta- 
tion, or  any  mystic  formulary.  On  the  other  side,  an 
excited  imagination  plays  the  foremost  part,  and  the 
influence  of  popular  superstitions  is  clearly  discernible. 
The    great    apologists  of   Christianity   are   themselves 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  ig 

sensible  of  this  inferiority,  and  we  shall  find  Origen 
treating  miracles  rather  as  the  subjects  of  proof  than 
as  themselves  adequate  proof  of  any  doctrine  not  other- 
wise verified,  since  such  arguments  can  be  brought 
forward  in  support  of  the  false,  no  less  than  of  the 
true. 

Having  thus  glanced  at  the  obstacles  which  Chris- 
tianity encountered  in  the  ancient  world,  and  also  at 
the  points  of  contact  which  it  found  with  the  men  of 
that  age,  we  shall  proceed  to  examine  the  mode  of 
operation,  and  the  means  employed  in  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel.  We  observe,  first,  that  the  work  was 
not  done  through  any  fixed  organisaton.  We  shall  not 
find  in  the  Church  of  the  second  and  third  centuries, 
any  of  those  great  missionary  associations  which  form 
so  important  a  part  of  modern  Christian  agency,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  the  whole  Church  was  then 
essentially  a  missionary  society.  A  stranger  and  a 
sojourner  rather  than  a  settler  in  the  world,  hard 
pressed  on  all  hands  by  surrounding  paganism,  its  very 
life  was  one  long  conflict ;  it  must  fight  in  self-defence, 
and  conquer  or  die.  There  was  no  distinction  then 
between  home  and  foreign  missions  ;  the  Christian  had 
but  to  cross  his  own  threshold,  and  walk  the  public 
streets  of  his  own  city,  and  he  found  a  pagan  people  at 
his  own  door  to  be  converted.  The  whole  civilisation  of 
the  empire  was  the  creation  of  paganism ;  there  was 
thereiore  no  delusive  veil,  such  as  is  too  often  drawn  over 
the  true  state  of  the  heart  by  modern  civilisation,  in  which 
the  presence  of  some  Christian  elements  suffices  to  con- 
ceal from  superficial  observers,  the  undying  paganism 
of  a  world  at  enmity  with  God.  In  the  cultivated 
citizen  of  Rome  or  Alexandria,  the  Church  saw  only 
a  pagan,  harder  to  convert  than  a  barbarian  of  Scythia 


20       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

or  Germany,  because  more  skilful  in  eluding  the  truth. 
Thus,  every  Church  was  a  mission-centre,  radiating 
Gospel  light  far  and  near.  Missionaries  were  not  sub- 
jected, any  more  than  pastors  or  bishops,  to  any  course 
of  special  training.  Their  aptitude  for  the  work  was 
tested,  and  they  were  chosen  when  they  gave  clear 
evidence  of  their  vocation.  It  was  thus  Origen  was 
delegated  by  the  Church  of  Alexandria  to  carry  the 
Gospel  into  Arabia,  at  the  invitation  of  the  governor 
of  that  distant  country,  who  had  embraced  Christianity.* 
Before  him,  Pantsenus,  the  famous  teacher  of  Clement, 
had  long  preached  in  India. t  A  new  mission  generally 
arose  out, of  some  incidental  circumstance,  and  wher- 
ever a  Christian  set  his  foot,  however  barren  the  soil, 
there  he  planted  the  Cross,  and  gathered  around  him 
the  nucleus  of  a  Church.  We  have  testimony  that  can- 
not be  contravened, — since  it  comes  from  an  enemy — 
to  the  spontaneity  of  missionary  zeal  in  the  early  Church. 
"  Many  of  the  Christians,"  writes  Celsus,  "  without  any 
special  calling,  watch  for  all  opportunities,  and  both 
within  and  without  the  temples,  boldly  proclaim  their 
faith ;  they  find  their  way  into  the  cities,  and  the 
armies,  and  there  having  called  the  people  together, 
harangue  them  with  fanatical  gestures.";}; 

Christianity  was  carried  from  Asia  Minor  to  Lyons, 
through  the  commercial  relations  between  that  rich 
city  of  the  Gauls,  and  the  opulent  provinces  of  Asia. 
It  was  taken  into  Germany  by  some  prisoners  of  war; 
and,  at  the  close  of  a  fierce  persecution  which  scattered 
the   Christians  of  Alexandria,  a  Church  was  founded 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  VI.  c.  19.  t  Ibid,  Bk.  V.  c.  10. 

J    IIoMot   Kai    6.V&VVU.01   pcicrra    tic    tT)Q    TrpooTVXoi><ri)Q    alriag,    xai   iv 
//    t£ai   Upiov,  01   he  Kai    uyeipavreg   jcat    iiri(poirevovrijg    ttoXcoiv    j) 
fTTparo-tiuir,  kivovvtcii    wg  GtoTii'Covreg.      (Origen,  "  Contr.    Cels.," 
VII.  9.) 


BOOK    I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  21 

by  the  fugitives  in  the  neighbouring  countries.  Every- 
thing was  free  and  spontaneous  in  the  great  chain  of 
Christian  victories,  which  after  two  centuries  enclosed 
the  empire  as  in  a  vast  network.  The  natural  relations  of 
life  aided  the  work  of  proselytism.  A  new  convert 
became  the  missionary  of  his  family.  The  most  humble 
were  often  the  most  powerful ;  it  was  an  obscure  old 
man  who  gave  Justin  Martyr  to  the  Church.  The 
account  of  his  conversion,  given  us  by  that  illustrious 
teacher,  shows  what  was  the  holy  boldness  and  skill 
of  these  voluntary  and  self-constituted  missionaries. 
As  Justin  was  wandering  along  the  sea-shore,  seeking 
to  calm  the  troubles  of  his  spirit,  wearied  with  the  vain 
search  he  had  made  for  truth  from  land  to  land,  he  met 
an  old  man  of  venerable  aspect.  The  stranger  read 
the  lines  of  sorrow  and  anxious  thought  upon  Justin's 
face,  and  asked  him  what  he  was  seeking  in  so  lonely 
a  place.  "  I  delight,"  replied  Justin,  "  in  such  quiet 
wanderings,  where  nothing  comes  to  disturb  my  inward 
musings.  This  wilderness  suits  well  with  philosophic 
meditation."  "  You  are  then,"  responded  the  old  man, 
"  a  lover  of  knowledge  only ;  you  love  not  virtue  nor 
truth.  You  are  but  a  sophist,  and  have  never  tried  to 
act."*  This  dart,  aimed  by  a  sure  hand,  and  guided 
by  the  divination  of  love,  sank  into  the  unquiet  con- 
science ;  the  intercourse  was  carried  on  in  the  same 
earnest  vein,  and  terminated  as  we  have  said,  in  the 
conversion  of  Justin. 

The  Christians  made  use  of  all  the  facilities  offered 
them.  The  customs  of  ancient  society  were  more 
adapted  than  those  of  modern  life  for  public  discus- 
sions   and   free    converse.       Life,  so  to  speak,  opened 

*  $>i\o\6yog  ovv  Tig  av,  <f>i\epyogcs  oucafiuig,  ovCt  (j>i\a\i)Qi]g.  (St.  Just, 
"  Dial,  cum  Tryph  ,"  p.  220.) 


22  Till:    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

freely  to  the  sun,  under  the  beautiful  southern  sky. 
The  public  square  was  the  common  meeting-place  of 
the  whole  community;  there,  were  gathered  the  idlers, 
the  curious,  and  the  spirits  eager  for  novelty,  like  the 
Athenians  in  the  time  of  St.  Paul.  There  the  philo- 
sopher, wrapped  in  his  mantle,  soon  drew  around 
him  an  attentive  crowd  ;  and  the  Christian,  ready 
"to  be  all  things  to  all  men,"  there  unfolded  the 
mysteries  of  his  divine  philosophy.  Public  discus- 
sions were  a  recognised  custom  of  society.  Origen, 
in  his  book  against  Celsus,  speaks  of  a  conference 
which  he  had  had  with  some  Jews,  and  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  conducted  in  all  due  form,  with 
judges  of  the  debate.*  It  was  after  such  a  discussion 
at  Rome,  with  the  philosopher  Crescens,  that  Justin 
Martyr  was  put  to  death. t  We  know  that  the  ancient 
philosophers  loved  to  teach  in  the  presence  of  the 
beauties  of  nature.  This  custom  was  peculiarly  adapted 
to  aid  the  propagation  of  the  faith.  Many  of  the  apolo- 
getic writings  of  these  early  days,  arose  out  of  free 
discussions  held  in  the  open  country.  They  might  be 
called  the  Christian  Tusculana.  The  dialogue  with 
Trypho  took  place  on  a  seat  in  the  covered  portico, 
under  which  athletes  used  to  exercise. %  The  "  Octa- 
vius "  of  Minutius  Felix  commences  thus: — "We 
arranged  to  go  to  Ostia,  an  enchanting  spot.  .  .  . 
The  vacation  had  come,  and  the  pleasures  of  the 
vintage  time  took  the  place  of  the  toils  of  the  bar. 
After  the  burning  summer,  had  come  the  tempered  heat 
of  autumn.  We  turned  our  steps  one  morning,  soon 
after  dawn,  towards  the  sea-shore,  to  breathe  the  pure, 

V.v  Tin  vpbc  'lovSalwv  Xtyofxkvovg  aotpovg  SiaXe&i,  7r\ewviov  KpivnvTwv 
to  Xtyofievov.     (Origen,  I.  p.  360.  See  also  p.  370.) 

t  Eusebius,  "H.  E./'  Bk.  IV.  c.  16.  J  Justin  Martyr,  p.  217. 


BOOK    I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS. 


23 


life-giving  air,  and  to  enjoy  the  pleasant  sensation  of 
treading  the  soft,  yielding  sand.  Talking  as  we  went, 
we  crossed  the  town  and  came  to  the  beach.  Tiny 
waves  were  playing  over  it  as  if  to  smooth  it  for  our 
tread.  And  as  the  sea,  even  when  the  winds  are  silent, 
is  still  a  little  stirred,  and  even  when  it  does  not  rush 
upon  the  shore  in  floods  of  snowy  foam,  yet  heaves  and 
breaks  in  wavelets  on  the  sand,  we  found  a  keen  delight 
in  letting  it  reach  us  in  its  playful  attacks  as  we  stood 
by  the  water's  edge.  Now  the  tide  played  around  our 
feet ;  now  it  drew  back  into  itself,  as  if  it  would  return 
to  the  bosom  of  the  great  sea.  Slowly  we  wandered 
along  the  winding  margin,  beguiling  the  length  of  the 
way  by  the  charm  of  conversation."*  This  simple 
picture  reminds  one  of  the  introduction  to  Plato's 
"  Phsedon."  Cyprian's  treatise  opens  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  same  kind  addressed  to  Donatus.  "  We 
have  a  sure  retreat  at  hand,"  he  says,  "  in  the  quiet 
country  near  us.  A  vine  climbing  along  the  supporting 
wood-work,  festoons  its  branches,  and  makes  a  green 
portico  of  leaves.  How  favourable  a  place  for  our 
meditations  together !  While  our  eyes  rejoice  in  the 
enchanting  sight  of  these  trees  and  vines,  our  souls 
shaH  at  the  same  time  be  fed  with  converse. "t 

The  Christians  did  not  content  themselves  with  these 
casual  opportunities  for  intercourse  ;  they  also  provided 
that  a  systematic  exposition  of.  Christianity,  distinct 
from  the  regular  preaching,  should  be  given  to  the 
pagans  who  desired  instruction  in  the  truth.  Thus 
was  founded  at  Alexandria  that  great  school  to  which 
we  shall  have  such  frequent  occasion  to  reier,  which, 

*  Minutius  Felix,  "  Octavius,"  II.  III. 

'  "  Animum  simul  et  auditus  instruit  et  pascit  oblectus."  (Cyprian, 
"Ad  Donat./'  I.) 


24       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

presenting  its  doctrines  to  the  world  through  such  men 
as  Pantaenus,  Clement,  and  Origen,  acquired  extra- 
ordinary  repute,  and  rallied  around  those  illustrious 
teachers,  not  only  the  catechumens  of  the  Church,  but 
also  a  large  number  of  pagans  drawn  together  from  all 
parts  of  the  empire.*  Antioch  subsequently  occupied 
the  same  position.  These  great  Christian  schools, 
which  could  hold  comparison  with  the  most  brilliant 
centres  of  ancient  philosophy,  contributed  effectually  to 
gain  credit  for  the  new  religion  in  high  quarters. 

By  all  these  combined  means  Christianity  made  daily 
progress.  It  now  remains  for  us  to  follow  its  apostles 
in  their  various  spheres  of  fruitful  labour. 

§  II.  Progress  of  Christianity  within  the  Empire  and 
beyond  it.  Sketch  of  the  different  Churches.  The  Eastern 
Church. 

(a)  Conquests  in  Asia,  in  Greece,  and  in  Eastern  Africa. 

Asia  was  the  cradle  of  Christianity;  it  was  also  the 
first  mission-field,  and  we  have  already  enumerated  the 
flourishing  Churches,  which  were  there  founded  in  the 
first  century.  A  valuable  document  enables  us  to  trace 
with  certainty  the  progress  of  the  new  religion  during 
the  course  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  even 
where  exact  statements  from  contemporary  writers  are 
wanting.  The  list  of  bishops  who  had  a  seat  in  the 
Council  of  Nicsea  (which  has  been  found  more  complete 
in  a  Syriac  manuscript  recently  published),  contains 
an  enumeration  of  the  Eastern  Churches  which  sent 
representatives  to  these  great  ecclesiastical  assem- 
blies.t 

:;  Eusebius,  "  II.  E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  10,  n. 

Analecta    Nicaena,'     fragments   relating  to   the    Council   of 

l.     The   Syriac    text,  from    an   ancient    MS.  in   the    British 

Mu -win,  with  a  translation,  notes,  &c,  by  B.  Harris  Cowper,  1857. 


BOOK   I.— CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  25 

This  list  shows  us  that  in  the  countries  where  Chris- 
tianity had  been  already  planted,  it  gained  many  fresh 
conquests  during  this  period,  and  that  new  Churches 
rose  up  around  those  of  earlier  date.  This  progress 
must  have  been  very  marked  in  Palestine,  for  that 
country  had  nineteen  representatives  at  Nicaea.  The 
Church  of  Jerusalem,  after  the  rebuilding  of  that  city 
by  Adrian,  was  chiefly  composed  of  pagan  converts, 
as  is  shown  by  the  names  of  the  bishops  mentioned  by 
Eusebius.  The  more  than  ordinary  respect  and  repu- 
tation which  it  enjoyed,  were  due  rather  to  the  sacred 
memories  connected  with  its  name  than  to  its  own  in- 
fluence; these  did  not,  however,  prevent  its  being 
eclipsed  by  a  neighbouring  Church.  The  town  of 
Caesarea,  raised  by  Vespasian  to  the  rank  of  a  Roman 
colony  and  the  residence  of  the  procurators,  was  the 
true  capital  of  the  province.*  At  the  commencement 
of  the  fourth  century,  it  possessed  an  important  Church, 
of  which  Eusebius,  the  historian,  was  bishop,  and 
which,  until  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  was  the  metro- 
polis of  the  province.  To  the  north  of  Palestine,  in 
Phoenicia,  ten  Churches  are  mentioned  ;  among  others 
those  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  Thus  the  empire  of  the 
purest  spirituality  had  been  established  in  these  ancient 
centres  of  vile  Phoenician  naturalism.  Twenty-two 
Churches  of  Ccelesyria  sent  delegates  to  Nicaea.  Be- 
side the  familiar  names  of  Antioch  and  Laodicea,  we 
find  those  of  many  new  Churches,  revealing  the  progress 
of  Christianity,  as  Larissa,  near  Caesarea,  and  Lamo- 
sata,  where  arose  that  great  discussion  on  the  nature  of 
Christ,  which  acquired  such  importance  subsequently 
under  the  passionate  treatment  of  Arius. 

The  Church  of  Antioch  still  preserved  the  high  place 
*  "  Hcec  Judaeoe  caput  est."     (Tacitus,  "  Historia,"  II.  79.) 

3 


26  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

which  it  attained  in  the  previous  era.  The  fruitful 
nursery  of  the  first  missionaries  in  the  first  century,  and 
rendered  illustrious  at  the  commencement  of  the  second 
by  the  martyrdom  of  Ignatius,  it  remained  faithful  to  so 
glorious  a  past,  and  was  regarded  as  the  second  metro- 
polis of  primitive  Christianity. 

There  was  not  a  single  province  of  Asia  Minor  which 
had  not  been  furrowed  in  every  direction  by  Christian 
labourers,  and  where  their  mission  had  not  gained  some 
fruit.  Cilicia  sent  eleven  bishops  to  Nicasa,  among 
whom  we  note  the  Bishop  of  Tarsus — the  city  of  St. 
Paul — and  of  Mopsuestia.  Cappadocia  was  represented 
by  ten  of  its  pastors.  Tyana,  rendered  famous  by  the 
magician  Apollonius,  Comana,  Cybistra,  and  many 
other  cities,  appeared  in  the  list  of  the  Council. 
Christianity  had  reached  the  shores  of  the  Euxine,  and 
founded  Churches  in  the  provinces  of  Pontus  and 
Paphlagonia.  It  had  sent  missionaries  as  far  as  the 
Hellespont,  and  into  the  regions  where  once  was  Troy 
— that  country  of  which  the  very  air  was  laden  with  the 
poetry  of  Homer.  The  cross  had  been  planted  in 
Lydia ;  around  the  celebrated  Churches  of  Ephesus  and 
Smyrna,  of  Thyatira  and  Philadelphia,  were  grouped  a 
number  of  humbler  Churches  of  more  recent  origin, 
Phrygia,  Pamphylia,  Pisidia,  which  had  as  many  as  ten 
bishops  at  Nicsea  ;  Isauria,  which  had  seventeen  ;  Caria, 
which  had  five — all  witness  to  the  same  result.  The 
names  of  the  bishops  of  Galatia  show  how  far 
Christianity  had  made  its  way  into  the  interior  of  the 
country.  The  islands  bordering  the  coast  of  Asia, — 
Rhodes,  Cos,  Lemnos,  Corcyra, — received  the  Gospel 
from  the  Continent;  so  likewise  did  the  island  of 
Cyprus,  which  had  listened  to  it  for  the  first  time  from 
the  lips  of  Paul.     Thus,  in  the  very  countries  where 


BOOK  I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  27 

paganism  had  reached  its  lowest  depth  of  corruption, 
in  that  voluptuous  land  where  religion  had  sanctioned 
and  smiled  on  all  forms  of  excess,  the  religion  of  most 
austere  morality  won  its  adherents  by  thousands,  and 
gathered  them  around  that  symbol  of  utter  self-sacrifice 
— the  Cross — in  the  very  presence  of  those  gorgeous 
temples,  in  which  pleasure  was  made  a  god  and  infamy 
a  religious  rite.  What  an  overwhelming  confutation 
of  those  degrading  doctrines,  which  teach  that  man  is 
irresistibly  moulded  by  the  climate  in  which  he  lives, 
is  chaste  and  sober  in  the  North,  voluptuous  in  the 
South,  a  votary  of  Cybele  or  Venus  in  Asia,  and  for 
the  very  same  reason  a  worshipper  of  Odin  in  the 
gloomy  forests  of  Germany  ! 

The  countries  adjoining  Asia  Minor  and  Syria  were 
early  visited  by  missionaries.  In  the  second  century  we 
find  Christian  teachers  in  Armenia.  The  reputed  letter 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  Abgarus,  already  noted  by  us,  and 
the  missions  attributed  to  Bartholomew  and  Thaddeus, 
are  valuable  indications  of  the  primitive  tradition  as  to 
the  very  early  propagation  of  the  faith  in  those  countries. 
It  is  certain  that  towards  the  commencement  of  the 
third  century,  Christianity  had  there  made  notable 
progress.  The  great  apostle  of  the  country  was  Gregory, 
surnamed  "the  Enlightener,"  who  was  born  in  257. 
"  Under  the  king  Tiridatus,"  says  Cedrenus,  "  he 
effected  the  conversion  of  the  whole  country.*  Pre- 
pared for  this  great  work  at  Caesarea,  where  he  had 
passed  a  part  of  his  youth,  and  had  matured  in  a  life  of 
solitude  and  asceticism,  he  began  to  preach  the  Gospel 

*  'H  Tecum'  A  puivtia  tig  ttjvtou  Xptrrrou  Trinnv  fif.TaTi.Qtr  a  \.  (CedrenUS, 
"Ad  Annum,"  XIX.,  Const.  Magni.)  Sozomen  1"  Hist,"  II.  c.  8.) 
attributes  the  conversion  of  Tiridatus  to  a  miracle,  not  mentioning 
Gregory. 


28  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

just  when  the  fierce  persecution  under  Diocletian  had 
reached  Armenia.  The  conversion  of  the  King  arrested 
the  storm,  and  assured  to  the  Church  at  least  the 
external  conquest  of  the  country,  for  the  protection  of 
princes  already  began  to  exert  its  fatal  influence,  and 
conversions  in  masses  took  the  place  of  the  slow  and 
sure  progress,  effected  by  the  dissemination  of  the  truth. 
The  King,  however,  would  not  have  yielded  so  soon,  if 
the  preaching  of  Gregory  had  not  obtained  extraordinary 
success;  he  did  no  more  than  recognise  a  victory  already 
won.  Gregory,  who  united  great  ability  to  ardent  zeal, 
covered  the  country  with  Christian  schools,  in  which 
the  rising  generation  was  trained  in  the  religion  of  Christ. 
He  went  to  Caesarea,  under  the  title  of  Bishop  of 
Armenia,  to  obtain  the  ecclesiastical  legalisation  of  his 
labours,  another  indication  of  the  revolution  which 
was  insensibly  being  effected  within  the  Church.* 

Further  northward,?  the  Gospel  was  at  the  same 
period  penetrating  to  the  foot  of  the  Caucasus  in  Iberia,  ■ 
under  affecting  circumstances,  which  mark  the  spon- 
taneous character  of  primitive  missions.  We  borrow 
this  narrative  from  the  historian  Socrates,  who  relates 
the  facts  more  simply  than  Sozomen,  though  still  with 
the  addition  of  legendary  details: — "A  woman  of  chaste 
and  pure  life  was  carried  captive  into  Iberia,  by  a  dis- 
pensation of  Divine  providence.  In  the  midst  of  pagans 
she  lived  a  life  of  severe  austerity.  Resisting  every 
solicitation  to  sin,  fasting  often,  and  constant  in  prayer, 

*  Fabricius,  "  Lux  Salutaris,"  p.  640  ;  "  Histoire  Generate  de 
l'Etablissement  du  Christianisme,"  translated  by  A.  Bost,  vol.  I.  p. 
292  ;  Lenain  de  Tillemont,  "  Memoires,"  vol.  V.  p.  1 12. 
t  About  the  year  320.  Although  the  conversion  of  Iberia  to 
Christianity  was  not  effected  till  some  years  after  the  period  of 
which  we  are  treating,  we  include  it,  as  closely  connected  with  the 
missions  of  Asia  Minor. 


.       BOOK  I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  20. 

she  was  the  wonder  of  the  barbarians.  It  happened 
that  an  infant  son  of  the  King  fell  ill,  and  the  Queen, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  had  him  carried 
to  some  wise  women  to  know  if  they  could  prescribe 
any  remedy  for  his  sickness.  As  the  child  found  no 
relief  after  being  taken  by  his  nurse  to  these  women, 
he  was  at  last  brought  to  the  poor  captive.  In  the 
presence  of  several  women,  she  declared  that  she  had 
no  material  aid  to  offer,  but  having  taken  the  child  in 
her  arms,  she  said, — '  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  healed 
many  sick,  will  heal  this  child.'  After  so  saying,  she 
prayed,  calling  upon  God  to  help,  and  the  child  was 
cured."  Some  days  after,  the  Queen  herself  was  taken 
ill,  and  she  also  was  healed  by  the  prayers  of  the  slave. 
The  King  wished  to  acknowledge  her  benefits  by  rich 
presents:  "I  have  no  use  for  these  treasures,"  she 
replied;  "  religion  is  all  I  need.  But  the  greatest  boon 
to  me  would  be,  that  you  should  worship  the  God  whom 
I  know."  Shortly  after  this,  while  the  King  was  out 
hunting,  a  sudden  and  awful  darkness  fell  upon  him. 
He  remembered  the  God  of  the  slave,  and  called  upon 
Him.  He  immediately  placed  himself  under  her  for 
instruction,  and  became  the  propagator  of  the  new  faith 
among  his  people.* 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  with  accuracy  the  limit 
reached  by  Christianity  in  the  East  during  this  period. 
It  is  certain  that  it  gained  important  successes  in 
Persia.  It  there  came  in  contact  with  a  religion  which, 
essentially  erroneous  as  it  was,  was  yet  far  superior  to 
the  vile  paganism  of  Asia  Minor.  The  devotees  of 
Zoroaster  recognised,  as  we  have  already  observed,  the 
great  conflict  between  good  and  evil,  which  lies  at  the 
basis  of  human  history.     True  they  erred  in  too  closely 

*  Socrates,  "  H.  E.,"  I.  c.  20.    Compare  with  Sozomen,  II.  c.  7. 


30       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

identifying  that  conflict  with  material  elements ;  they 
knew  not  how  to  rise  above  the  symbols  which  set  it 
forth,  and  too  often  reduced  it  to  a  mere  war  between 
light  and  darkness ;  nevertheless,  they  worshipped  in 
Ormuzd  a  divinity  endowed  with  many  traits  of  the 
moral  ideal.  He  was  not  a  god  to  be  honoured  by  lust 
and  bloodshed.  But  the  "  A  vesta"  did  not  break  the 
fatal  circle  of  dualism ;  on  the  contrary,  it  recognised 
the  eternal  opposition  between  the  power  of  darkness  and 
the  power  of  light  in  the  most  vivid  manner.  Ahriman 
was  represented  as  a  gigantic  serpent  entangling  the 
whole  world  in  its  coils,  and  infusing  its  poison  into 
all  beings.  The  religion  of  Zoroaster  offered  no  sure 
and  certain  means  of  subduing  this  malignant  power, 
but  by  that  very  fact  it  fostered  in  its  votaries  a  sense 
of  the  need  of  healing  and  deliverance,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  Christianity. 

The  incense  offered  by  the  magi  to  the  infant  Christ 
in  His  cradle,  is  a  tribute  from  these  old  oriental  religions 
to  the  religion  of  mankind,  and  a  vague  indication  of 
aspirations  and  dim  desires  after  God,  which  heaved 
beneath  them  all.  Christianity  was  planted  in  Persia 
in  the  second  century  ;  this  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that 
the  Manichean  heresy  arose  in  that  country  at  the 
commencement  of  the  third  century.  If  the  new  reli- 
gion underwent  some  change  from  its  contact  with 
Parseeism,  that  in  its  turn  was  sensibly  modified  by 
Christianity.  The  religion  of  Zoroaster  came  largely 
under  the  influence  of  Christian  doctrine ;  the 
"  Bundehesch,"  the  sacred  book  which  dates  irom  the 
first  centuries  of  our  era,  bears  evident  trace  of  this 
modification,  and  of  the  adoption  of  Christian  ideas.  It 
is  not  known  how  Christianity  was  introduced  into 
Persia,  probably  it  entered  in  the  train  of  those  constant 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  31 

wars  waged  between  that  country  and  the  Roman 
empire.  Captive  soldiers  possibly  carried  the  Gospel 
with  them  into  the  enemies'  land.  It  is  certain  that 
by  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  the  Christians  in 
Persia  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  be  recommended 
by  Constantine  to  the  King  Schapur  II.*  This  recom- 
mendation was  not  without  avail,  for  in  the  year  343  a 
terrible  persecution  broke  out,  and  its  violence  shows 
what  must  have  been  the  triumphs  of  the  Church  before 
it  arose.  A  Persian  bishop  sat  in  the  Council  of 
Nicaea. 

Was  Christianity  carried  from  Persia  into  India,  or, 
at  least,  to  the  frontiers  of  that  country,  which  border 
on  the  far  East?t  This  is  a  much  controverted 
question,  because  it  is  well  known  that  the  ancients 
comprehended  Ethiopia,  Arabia  Felix,  and  the  ad- 
joining countries  under  the  name  of  India. £  It  is 
generally  agreed  that  it  was  in  Ethiopia  that  Pantaenus, 
the  illustrious  founder  of  the  school  of  Alexandria, 
preached  the  Gospel. §  In  spite,  however,  of  the 
absence  of  historic  evidence,  we  are  disposed  to  believe 
that  some  Christian  missionaries  did  at  this  time  reach 
the  frontiers  of  India.  We  have  already  mentioned 
that,  in  the  time  of  Constantine,  a  missionary  return- 
ing from  that  country,  stated  that  he  had  there  found 
traces   of   primitive    Christianity.  ||     Arabia   heard   the 

*  TlvQo/jitvog  irapa  tmv  Ylapcwv  y'tvei  7r\r]Qvtiv  rag  tov  Qeov  tKic'Xijaiar, 
\aovg  rt  /xvpidvcpovg  rctig  XpiGrou  iroiftvaig  evaypXd^trrOai.  (EuseblUS, 
"  In  Vita  Const.,"  IV.  8,9.  Compare  Sozomen,  II.  15.  See  Fab- 
ricius,  "  Lux  Salutaris,"  p.  634. 

•f-  Socrates  (I.  19)  and  Sozomen  (II.  24)  assert  the  fact. 

X  See  Fabricius,  "  Lux  Salutaris,"  p.  628  ;  Mosheim,  "  De  Rebus 
ante  Const.  Comment.,"  p.  207,  and  especially  Valesius'  note  on 
Socrates,  p.  13. 

§  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  V.  10.     Nicephorus,  IV.  32. 

|j   Philostorgius,  III.  4. 


32 


THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 


preaching  of  Origen,*  and  many  churches  were  founded 
in  that  land.  Six  bishops  from  Arabia  sat  in  the 
Council  of  Nicaea.  Abyssinia  did  not  receive  its  first 
missionaries  till  after  the  Great  Council.  The  tradition 
that  the  Gospel  was  preached  there  in  the  time  of  the 
apostles  is  wholly  unauthentic. t 

Christianity  consolidated  during  this  period  the  con- 
quests of  the  previous  age  in  Greece  and  Eastern  Africa. 
We  find  Greece  largely  represented  in  the  Council  of 
Nicaea. £  We  have  few  details  of  the  missions  carried  on 
in  these  countries,  because  Christianity  was  there  spread 
by  a  spontaneous  expansion,  which  was  rather  a  radia- 
tion from  the  centres  of  light  already  existing,  than  a 
mission  properly  so  called.  The  Church  of  Alexandria 
was  the  metropolis  of  Egypt.  It  diffused  the  Christian 
faith  through  all  the  ancient  provinces  of  the  country, 
in  Thebais  and  in  Libya. §  Thus  passed  away  that  old 
Egyptian  idolatry,  which  had  supposed  itself  immortal 
in  its  immobility.  Alexandria  was,  during  the  whole  of 
this  period,  the  metropolis  of  that  oriental  Christianity, 
which  was  then  of  so  prominent  a  type  ;  the  Eastern 
Church  thence  derived  its  purest  splendour.  So  long 
as  it  was  under  the  ascendant  of  the  city  of  Clement 
and  Origen,  it  was  characterised  by  a  more  free  and 
soaring  genius,  was  less  fettered  by  tradition  and 
routine  than  its  Western  sister,  while  equalling  her  in 

*  Eusebius,  VI   c.  19. 

t  "  Terram  hanc  nullo  apostolicas  doctrinae  vomere  proscissam." 
(Rufin,  "Hist,"  I.  19.  See  Ludolph,  "Comment,  ad  suam  His- 
torian! ^Ethiopicam.") 

I  Bunsen,  "  Analect.  Antenicama,"  p.  271. 

§  Vansleb.l"  History  of  the  Church  of  Alexandria,"  p.  29.)  quotes 
the  following  canon  from  the  Arabic  and  Ethiopian  version  of  the 
Council  of  Nicaea  :  "All  the  faithful  who  are  in  Egypt,  Lybia,  the 
Pentapolis  and  Nubia,  ought  to  be  under  the  government  of  the 
Bishop  of  Alexandria." 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  33 

zeal  and  fidelity,  and  wearing,  like  her,  the  crown  of 
martyrdom.  We  shall  see  this  type  of  the  Eastern 
Church  becoming  more  and  more  marked  throughout 
the  whole  of  the  first  three  centuries. 

(b)  Conquests  in  Western  Africa,  Spain,  and  Italy,  The 
Western  Church. 

The  widest  and  most  fertile  field  of  missions  in  the 
West  was  proconsular  Africa.  The  Church  there 
founded  rapidly  rose  to  the  first  rank  in  numerical 
importance  and  influence.*  This  extensive  and  fruitful 
province  had  become  in  part  the  granary  of  Italy,  which, 
as  mistress  of  the  world,  did  not  take  the  pains  to  till 
its  own  prolific  soil.  Embracing  the  two  Numidias, 
Mauritania,  and  Tingitania,  it  possessed  all  climates  from 
the  burning  zone  of  the  South  to  the  snows  of  Atlas.  The 
Roman  administration  had  successfully  pursued  in 
Africa  its  course  of  assimilation.  Externally,  every- 
thing bore  the  impress  of  Rome  ;  it  had  set  its  stamp 
on  organisation,  on  religion,  on  manners ;  nevertheless, 
beneath  this  Roman  surface,  the  African  nationality  was 
preserved  nearly  intact.  Not  to  speak  of  the  remote 
provinces  which  remained  almost  wholly  alien,  if  not 
to  the  domination,  at  least  to  the  civilisation  of  Italy ; 
nor  of  the  nomadic  tribes  wandering  in  the  deserts  of 
Numidia  and  at  the  foot  of  Atlas,  there  were  to  be 
found,  even  in  those  brilliant  cities  where  the  yoke  of 
the  foreigner  seemed  most  firmly  fixed,  characteristic 
traits  of  the  primitive  race,  and  especially  relics  of  its 

*  Our  principal  authority,  apart  from  the  Fathers,  is  Munter's 
excellent  work,  "  Primordia  Ecclesias  Africans,"  Hafme,  1829.  See 
also  a  noble  paper,  by  M.  Villemain,  in  the  "  Coirespondant  "  of 
December  25th,  1858,  entitled,  "Du  premier  apostoJat  chreticn 
dans  la  province  romaine  d  Afrique." 


34  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ancient  beliefs.  The  Africans,  without  separating  from 
established  paganism,  or  braving  the  perils  of  schism, 
found  means  to  remain  faithful  to  their  ancient  religion, 
which  was  derived,  as  we  know,  from  Asia,  and  was 
only  a  somewhat  modified  form  of  Phoenician  naturalism. 
They  attached  themselves  to  that  phase  of  Greco- 
Roman  polytheism,  which  approached  most  nearly  to 
their  primitive  worship.  Instead  of  Dido  they  wor- 
shipped Jupiter  ;  it  was  but  a  change  of  name.  No 
people  were  more  open  to  magic  arts  than  these 
devotees  of  nature,  who  put  all  their  confidence  in  her 
hidden  powers.  The  writings  of  the  time  reveal  on 
every  page  this  tendency  towards  Asiatic  pantheism, 
and  this  susceptibility  to  magic.  The  presence  of  the 
old  African  type  under  the  Roman  dominion,  asserted 
itself  very  expressively  in  the  language  of  the  country. 
It  was  indeed  Latin,  the  despotic  tongue  of  the  victors, 
imposed  upon  the  vanquished  ;  but  how  different  is  this 
African  Latin  from  the  Latin  of  Rome  !  It  is  fired,  as 
it  were,  by  the  burning  sun  of  the  soil,  incorrect, 
abrupt,  subtle,  but  of  incomparable  power. 

The  capital  of  proconsular  Africa,  which  rapidly 
became  the  centre  of  African  Christianity,  was  Carthage, 
the  famous  rival  of  republican  Rome,  which,  having 
risen  in  renewed  youth  irom  her  ashes,  almost  equalled, 
like  Alexandria,  the  glory  of  imperial  Rome.  Enriched 
by  its  commerce,  illustrious  for  its  lawyers,  who  formed 
a  school  of  jurisprudence  in  the  empire;  -adorned  with 
all  the  splendour  of  a  civilisation  at  once  Asiatic  and 
Roman,  Carthage  saw  a  vast  population  flow  into  ils 
walls.  It  also  aspired  to  distinction  in  letters  and  the 
fine  arts ;  and  in  that  age  of  general  decay,  the  impetu- 
ousness  of  the  African  nature  was  an  important 
element  of  success.    Schools  were  opened  by  celebrated 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  35 

rhetors,  into  which  crowded  a  brilliant  youthful  race. 
Public  readings  were  established  as  at  Rome.  Apuleius 
read  his  "  Florides  "  before  the  assembled  multitude, 
as  Herodotus  had  once  read  his  history  at  the  Olympic 
games.  It  is  true  that  the  historian  delivered  his  immortal 
pages  at  those  grand  games  which  formed  the  souls  of 
heroes,  while  the  African  rhetor  read  his  cold  com- 
positions on  the  spot  where  he  had  been  preceded  by 
jugglers  and  rope-dancers;  but  this  fact  only  gives  us 
a  gauge  of  the  difference  between  the  two  ages.  A  city 
like  Carthage  could  not  be  a  centre  of  civilisation  with- 
out being  at  the  same  time  a  centre  of  corruption.  Its 
excesses  had  made  it  notorious,  even  in  a  time  of 
universal  infamy.  It  had  faithfully  preserved  this 
tradition  of  Asiatic  paganism,  and  added  to  it  all  the 
resources  of  a  superior  civilisation.  Salvian,  who  lived 
a  century  later,  at  a  period  when  Christianity  was 
finally  victorious,  gives  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the 
dissoluteness  of  Carthage,  which  must  have  been  yet 
more  true  to  the  life  when  the  city  was  still  in  the 
depths  of  pagan  darkness.  "  Shall  I  speak,"  he  says, 
l:  of  this  city,  once  the  compeer  of  Rome  in  courage,  and 
since  then  in  splendour  and  rank — Carthage,  the  great 
rival  of  Rome,  the  Rome  of  Africa  ?  *  There  I  find 
the  administrative  system  of  the  empire  complete, 
schools  of  all  the  liberal  arts,  and  of  the  philosophers, 
gymnasia,  where  languages  may  be  learned  and  the 
mind  polished.  There,  too,  are  military  forces,  and 
their  commandants,  and  all  the  array  01  the  proconsular 
office.  And  yet,  I  see  this  famous  city  overflowing 
with  vice,  consumed  by  every  form  of  corruption,  more 
full  of  crimes  than  of  inhabitants,  abounding  in  riches, 

*  "  In  Africano  orbe  quasi   Romara."     (Salviani,  "  De  Guber- 
natione  Dei,"  Bk.  VII.  pp.  149,  150.) 


36       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

but  yet  more  abounding  in  sin.*  I  see  men  struggling 
with  each  other  for  the  championship  of  evil,  some 
claiming  the  palm  in  rapacity,  others  in  impurity;  some 
stultified  by  wine,  others  by  gluttony;  here  crowned 
with  flowers,  there  steeped  in  perfumes  ;  all  bearing  the 
brand  of  idle  and  corrupting  luxury,  almost  all  taken 
in  the  mortal  snare  of  error ;  and  if  a  few  escape  the 
intoxication  of  wine,  I  see  them  no  less  intoxicated  with 
sin.t  What  quarter  of  the  town  is  there  which  is  not 
running  over  with  vice  ?  In  what  square,  or  in  what 
street  is  there  not  a  house  of  infamy  ?"  Such  was 
Carthage,  the  city  devoted  to  the  great  goddess  of  Asia, 
and  ever  faithful  to  its  origin.  The  ancient  worship 
lingered  in  the  country  districts,  without  troubling 
to  shelter  itself  under  the  externals  of  the  State  religion. 
There  lived  the  old  Carthaginians,  speaking  the  lan- 
guage of  their  fathers, — an  Asiatic  dialect  resembling  in 
many  respects  the  Hebrew, — and  worshipping  their 
old  national  gods.  St.  Augustine  complains  repeatedly 
of  the  obstacle  raised  by  this  foreign  language  to 
the  propagation  of  the  faith.J  Yet  this  barbarous 
race  was  reached  by  the  Gospel,  and  it  gave  several 
bishops  to  the  Church  of  Africa.  The  Numidian  and 
Moorish  tribes,  inhabiting  the  foot  of  Mount  Atlas, 
however,  remained  strangers  to  Christianity  during 
this  period. 

The  early  history  of  the  Church  of  proconsular  Africa 
is  as  obscure  as  is  that  of  most  other  ancient 
Churches.     The  usual  attempt  has  been  made  to  trace 

*  "  Video  quasi  scaturientem  vitiis,  plenam  quidem  turbis,  sed 
magis  turpitudinibus."  (Salviani,  "  De  Gubernatione  Dei/'  Bk.  VI  I. 
pp.  149,  150.)  f  «  Omnes  tamen  peccatis  ebrios."     (Ibid.) 

t  Augustine,  "  In  Johann,"  Vol.  XIV.  p.  27.  He  is  speaking  in 
this  passage  of  the  old  Punic  tongue.  (Jerome,  "  Praefatio  ad 
Galatas."     Amobius,  "  Adv.  Gent.,"  I.  10.) 


BOOK    I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  37 

its  foundation  to  an  apostle.  Popular  legend,  con- 
founding Simon  of  Cyrene  with  Simon  Zelotes,  has 
made  the  latter  the  first  missionary  in  Africa.  There 
has  also  been  an  endeavour  to  connect  the  African 
Church,  according  to  preconceived  system,  with  the 
Church  of  Rome,  by  attributing  to  St.  Peter  the  sending 
of  apostolic  legates  to  Carthage.  This  is,  however, 
a  gratuitous  supposition  originating  with  the  hierarchical 
party.  We  know  how  diligently  that  party  has  laboured 
retrospectively  to  create  for  itself  title-deeds  of  high 
antiquity.*  Tertullian  never  represented  the  Church 
of  Africa  as  of  apostolic  origin,  although  he  made  a 
complete  enumeration  of  the  Churches  belonging  to 
that  category.  Is  it  possible  that  he  should  have 
passed  over  in  silence  that  which  was  both  best  known 
and  best  beloved  by  him  ?t  He  even  goes  so  far  as  to 
distinguish  between  the  Church  of  Africa  and  the 
apostolic  Churches.^  If  the  Church  of  Carthage  was 
not  founded  in  the  first  century,  we  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  it  received  Christianity  from  the  capital  of 
the  empire,  to  which  proconsular  Africa,  as  a  Roman 
province,  was  bound  by  the  closest  ties.  Communica- 
tions with  Alexandria  were  few  and  difficult,  partly 
owing  to  the  difference  of  language,  while  Latin  was 
spoken  at  Carthage  as  at  Rome.  We  may  suppose 
a  variety  of  very  simple  and  natural  circumstances, 
under  which  the  Gospel  might  be  brought  to  the  shores 

*  Munter,  "  Primordia,"  p.  8. 

f  See  Tertullian,  "  De  Praescriptionibus,"  c.  xxi  ,  xxxii.,  xxxvi.  ; 
"Adv.  Marcionem,"  IV.  5. 

I  "  Eas  ego  ecclesias  proposui  quas  et  ipsi  apostoli  vel  apostolici 
viri  condiderunt.  Habcnt  igitur  et  illae  camdcm  consuctudinis 
auctoritatem,  tempora  et  antccessores  opponunt  magis  quam 
posterae  istae."  (Tertullian,  "  De  Virginibus  Vclandis,"  II.)  Ter- 
tullian is  speaking  in  this  passage  of  the  Churches  of  Greece  and 
of  the  East. 


38  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  Africa.  Some  Christian  from  Italy  may  have  come 
to  Carthage  as  a  trader,  or  a  legionary,  or  possibly  to 
escape  from  persecution.  Tertullian  speaks  of  the 
peculiarly  friendly  relations  which  existed  between  the 
Church  of  Rome  and  the  Churches  of  Africa.*  Cyprian 
calls  the  former  the  root  of  the  latter.t  St.  Augustine 
is  not  less  explicit :  "It  is  manifest,"  he  says,  "that 
the  foundation  of  the  Churches,  established  throughout 
Italy,  Gaul,  Spain,  Africa,  Sicily,  and  the  intermediate 
islands,  is  due  entirely  to  the  priests  appointed  by  the 
venerable  apostle  Peter  and  his  successors."^:  Augustine 
does  not  affirm  that  all  these  Churches  were  directly 
founded  by  St.  Peter,  since  he  includes  his  successors. 
The  only  positive  fact  brought  out  by  this  passage — if 
it  is  divested  of  any  hierarchical  colouring — is  the 
foundation  of  the  Church  of  Carthage  by  Christians 
from  Rome.  Moreover,  the  very  same  Father,  in  other  of 
his  writings,  states  that  the  Churches  of  Greece  and  of 
the  East  took  part  in  the  African  missions.  He  calls 
them  the  root  from  which  grew  the  Gospel  in  Africa, 
and  he  informs  us  that  the  Christians  of  the  latter 
country  had  had  friendly  relations  with  those  Churches, 
followed  up  by  letters. §  There  is  nothing  to  prevent 
our  supposing  that  missionaries  from  the  trading  cities 

*  "  Ouod  earn  Africanis  ecclesiis  contesserant."  (Tertullian,  "  De 
Praescriptionibus,"  c.  xxxvi.) 

"  Radix  et  matrix."     (Cyprian,  Epist  xlviii.,  "  Ad  Cornelium.") 

+  Manifestum  esse  in  omnem  Italiam,  Gallias.  Hispanias, 
Africam,  atque  Siciliam  insulasque  interjacentes  nullum  instituisse 
ccclesias.  nisi  ens  quas  venerabilis  Petrus  apostolus  et  ejus  succes- 
sors constituerint  sacerdotes."  (Epist.  xxv.,  "Ad  Constant.," 
p.  856.) 

§  "  Ceteris  terris  unde  Evangelium  ad  ipsam  Africam  venit." 
(Epist.  Ixii  ,  "  Contra  Pertinaciam  Donatistorum.")  Compare  with 
the  following  passage,  "  Grrecis  ubi  fides  orta  est."  (Epist.  clxxviii  ) 
"  Ilia  radice  Ecclesiarum  orientalium  unde  Evangelium  in  Africam 
vcnit."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  39 

of  Asia  Minor  may  have  landed  at  Carthage,  and  there 
aided  in  the  propagation  of  the  faith. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  that  Church  of  Africa  which 
played  so  important  a  part  in  the  first  ages  of  the 
Christian  era.  It  had  neither  the  speculative  genius  of 
the  Church  of  Alexandria,  nor  the  policy  and  wisdom 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  it  carried  alike  into  its 
internal  discussions  and  external  operations  for  the 
defence  of  Christianity,  its  constitutional  vehemence 
and  ardour.  This  was  at  once  its  strong  and  its  weak 
point.  Ever  prone  to  extremes,  it  was  torn  by  schism, 
and  made  the  breach  irreparable  by  its  own  violence  ; 
but  it  had  ardent  zeal,  indomitable  spirit,  irresistible 
eloquence.  Tertullian  remains  after  all,  in  spite  of  his 
errors,  its  most  faithful  representative.  No  Church 
made  such  rapid  conquests.  It  won  its  trophies  in  the 
country  districts*  no  less  than  in  the  towns,  among  the 
field  labourers  as  well  as  in  the  higher  classes  of 
society.  In  the  time  of  Cyprian,  the  heretics  were 
numbered  by  thousands,!  which  presupposes  a  very 
large  number  of  Christians.  At  the  first  Council  of 
Carthage,  in  the  year  225,  seventy  bishops  from  pro- 
consular Africa  and  Numidia  occupied  seats.  It  is  no 
exaggeration  to  reckon  the  number  of  Christians  in 
these  countries,  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  century, 
at  more  than  a  hundred  thousand.  The  Church  of 
Carthage  was  like  an  important  town  in  the  capital  of 
the  province. 

Spain  probably  received  Christianity  at  once  from 
Carthage  and  from  Rome.  The  supposed  missions 
of  St.  James  the  Greater  and  St.  Paul  are  purely 
legendary,    and     ought     not    to    detain   the    historian 

*  "Inagris."  (Tertullian,  "  Apol.,"  c.  xli.,  xlii.)     f  Epist.  lxxiii. 


40  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

for  a  moment.*  It  is  not  possible  to  do  more  than 
verify  the  existence  of  many  Churches  in  Spain  in 
the  third  century.  The  labours  of  the  missionaries  who 
carried  the  Gospel  there  are  known  only  by  their  fruits; 
but  if  their  names  have  perished,  the  trace  of  their 
footprints  remained  deeply  impressed  upon  that  land, 
where  so  many  races  were  to  succeed  each  other. 
The  Church  of  Spain  had  acquired  importance  at 
the  close  of  the  third  century,  for  it  yielded  many 
martyrs  in  the  persecution  under  Domitian.  Several 
Councils  were  held  in  this  country  during  the  course  of 
the  fourth  century.! 

Christianity  had  been  already  victoriously  established 
in  Italy  during  the  preceding  period.  It  went  on 
spreading  from  town  to  town,  during  the  epoch  now 
before  us,  and  gathered  adherents  from  all  classes  of 
society.  We  have  no  precise  documents  giving  evidence 
of  this  progressive  movement,  except  the  general  state- 
ments of  the  Fathers  already  cited  ;  but  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact,  that  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourth 
century,  the  Church  of  Rome  embraced  an  entire 
people.  It  was  a  power  which  must  be  recognised,  and 
either  exterminated  or  controlled.  Between  the  policy 
of  Dioclesian  and  that  of  Constantine,  no  middle  course 
was  possible.  It  was  vain  to  pour  contempt  upon  this  new 
society,  in  all  the  vigour  of  youth  and  of  faith,  fortified 
and  increased  by  conflict,  strong  in  numbers  and  in 
zeal,      lhe    memorial    inscriptions    in    the    catacombs 

*  These  legends  are  to  be  found  in  Fabricius,  "  Lux  Salutaris," 
p.  374  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  how  the  former  originated. 
Ihe  latter  is  sufficiently  explained  by  the  wish  expressed  by  St. 
Paul  to  visit  Spain. 

t  See  Rosseeuw  Saint-Hilaire,  "  Histoire  d'Espacjne,"  Vol.  I.  p. 
1 60.  Cyprian  (Epist.  lvii.)  speaks  already  of  the  Churches  of  Leon, 
Astunas,  Merida,  and  Sarrasrossa. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  41 

prove  that  the  Christians  were  gathered  from  all 
classes  of  society.  Side  by  side  with  the  grave  of  the 
consulary,  we  find  the  tablet  bearing  the  name  of  a 
slave  or  humble-  artisan  ;  the  remains  of  the  Roman 
matron  rest  beside  those  of  the  humblest  of  her  sex. 
By  the  aid  of  these  names  we  are  enabled  to  appre- 
ciate the  progress  made  by  Christian  missions  among 
all  ranks.  The  Church  of  Rome,  during  the  first 
three  centuries,  strove  rather  to  increase  its  own 
numerical  importance,  than  to  exercise  a  wide  influence 
abroad.  It  gave  no  illustrious  teachers  to  ancient 
Christianity;  it*  pronounced  no  great  decisions  in  the 
polemics  which  arose.  All  the  gravest  questions  of 
doctrine  were  debated  elsewhere.  Without  deserving 
the  reproach  of  a  petty  policy,  this  Church,  by  a  sort  of 
instinct  of  race,  occupied  itself  far  more  with  points  of 
government  and  organisation  than  of  speculation.  Its 
central  position  in  the  capital  of  the  empire,  and  its 
glorious  memories,  guaranteed  to  it  a  growing  authority, 
and  thus  its  supremacy  was  virtually  established  long 
before  it  was  technically  recognised.  We  shall  closely 
follow  this  great  revolution  when  we  come  to  study  the 
history  of  ecclesiastical  government  during  the  first 
three  centuries. 

The  Church  founded  at  Lyons  in  Roman  Gaul,  which 
was  a  sort  of  metropolis  to  the  whole  of  that  country, 
was  early  bound  by  close  ties  to  the  Church  of  Rome. 
We  shall  do  well,  therefore,  to  include  it  in  the  same 
category ;  for  at  the  period  when  the  Gospel  was 
preached  in  this  part  of  Gaul,  that  country  was  wholly 
incorporated  with  the  empire.  It  had  accepted  the 
Roman  dominion  and  religion,  and  had  received  in 
exchange  a  brilliant  civilisation,  and  all  the  lavish 
luxury   with   which    Rome    adorned    its    great    cities. 

4 


42  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ificent  monuments,  temples  gleaming  with  gold 
and  marble,  vast  arenas  opened  for  sanguinary  sports 
— all  these  things,  which  were  too  often  taken  as  a 
sufficient  compensation  for  the  loss  of  liberty,  Spain 
possessed  in  abundance.  The  new  religion  was  carried 
into  these  countries  by  the  Christians  of  Asia  Minor, 
who  were  probably  led  thither  by  some  of  those  com- 
mercial transactions  very  frequent  between  southern 
Gaul  and  the  East.  Lyons  was  the  principal  depot  of 
the  trade  of  Gaul.  This  city  numbered  many  Asiatics 
among  its  inhabitants.  Possibly  these  may  have  formed 
the  first  nucleus  of  the  Christian  Church  which  led  to 
the  mission  of  Pothinus  and  Irenseus.  According  to 
Gregory  of  Tours,  these  Christian  emissaries  were  sent 
by  Polycarp  himself.*  Their  success  was  great,  and 
the  Church  rapidly  increased.  We  see  by  the  names 
of  its  members,  which  are  mentioned  in  the  letter 
written  from  the  Church  of  Lyons  to  the  Churches  of 
Asia  Minor,  that  the  Greek  and  the  Gallic  elements 
were  there  represented  as  well  as  the  Roman.  There 
are  but  few  names  of  the  wealthy,  such  as  the  physician 
Alexander  the  Phrygian.  Slaves  like  Blandina  find 
place  side  by  side  with  their  masters  ;  freed  slaves, 
provincial  subjects,  and  Romans  by  birth,  all  meet  toge- 
ther, t  Great  zeal  and  immoveable  steadfastness  distin- 
guished the  ancient  Church  of  Lyons,  which  lought 
bravely  in  the  first  ranks  during,  the  terrible  conflict  of 
the  second  century.  From  it  sprang  the  Church  oi  the 
Eduans  and  that  of  Vienna.  Christianity  appears  even 
to  have  spread  into  Belgica  and  Germania,  Prima  and 

*  Gregory  of  Tours.  "  Historia  Francise,"  Vol.  I.  p.  27. 

I  .Sec  the  account  of  these  names  in  Eusebius,  "  H.  E."  Bk.  V. 
c.  '-and  in  Tillemont's  "Memoires,"  Vol.  III.  p.  38;  also  in 
L'Histoiredela  Gaule  sous  la  domination  romaine,"  by  A.  Thierry, 
Vol.  II.  p.  174. 


BOOK   I.  — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  43 

Secunda,  for    Irenaeus   speaks  of  the  faith  of  the  two 
Germanies.* 

The  Churches  of  proconsular  Africa,  of  Spain,  of 
Italy,  and  of  Southern  Gaul,  constitute,  at  this  period, 
the  Western  Church,  so  different  in  its  general  type 
from  the  Eastern.  With  the  exception  of  Irenseus  and 
Hippolytus,  who  represent  the  oriental  element  in  Gaul 
and  at  Rome,  the  Western  Fathers  are  broadly  distin- 
guished from-  those  of  the  East.  Accepting  the  same 
doctrinal  basis,  they  differ  altogether  in  their  bias,  bent 
of  thought,  and  mode  of  expression.  They  affirm 
rather  than  demonstrate ;  their  will  is  stronger  than 
their  logic;  they  prefer  practical  to  speculative  questions. 
The  system  of  episcopal  authority  is  gradually  de- 
veloped with  the  larger  amount  of  passion  at  Carthage, 
with  the  greater  prudence  and  patience  in  Italy.  But 
it  is  already  evident  that  as  Rome  conquered  Greece 
with  all  its  wealth  of  thought,  so  the  Western  Church 
will  gain  the  ascendancy  over  the  Eastern,  appropriat- 
ing all  its  intellectual  treasures.  The  hour  for  this 
victory  is,  however,  as  yet  far  distant,  and  in  the  age  of 
liberty  we  are  now  considering — which  knows  nothing 
of  an  unreal  unity,  though  insensibly  drifting  towards 
it — the  essential  differences  between  the  two  Churches 
are  still  broadly  marked. 

(c)  Conquests  of  the  Church  in  Western  Gaul  and  in 
Cjcrmany. 

Beside  the  countries  which  had  been  at  once  subdued 
and  assimilated  by  Rome,  there  remained  vast  tracts  of 
land  which  were  indeed  included  within  the  material 
boundaries  of  the  empire,  but  which  were,  so  to  speak, 

*  Irenaeus,  "  Contr.  Haercs.,"  Vol.  I.  3. 


44  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

beyond  its  moral  limits,  inasmuch  as  they  continued 
alien  to  its  civilisation.  Such  was  Britain,  and  such 
were  some  remote  parts  of  western  Gaul;  the  yoke  was 
upon  them,  but  they  had  not  yet  bowed  under  it. 
Beyond  the  limits  of  the  Roman  dominion,  in  the  vast 
forests  of  Germany,  a  young  race,  valiant  and  earnest 
in  spirit,  was  preparing  for  a  great  destiny.  It  was  the 
dark  cloud,  hardly  rising  above  the  far  horizon,  and 
yet  prophetic  of  coming  and  terrible  storms.  Already 
this  menace  of  the  future  had  been  perceived  by  the 
keenly  politic  emperors,  and  they  were  on  the  alert  and 
vigilant.  A  profound  instinct  warned  them  that  peril 
was  there.  These  barbarous  people  were  destined  to  do 
more  than  sweep,  with  the  besom  of  destruction,  the  face 
of  the  old  world ;  they  were  not  only  to  raze,  but  to 
build.  Christianity  was  to  find  in  them  its  most  con- 
genial abode,  and  among  them  it  was  to  create  a  new 
society,  young,  like  itself,  and  eminently  adapted  to 
receive  its  influence.  It  was  a  memorable  moment 
therefore,  in  history,  when  the  Gospel  was  first  carried 
to  these  barbarous  nations. 

Before  Caesar's  conquest,  Gaul*  was  divided  into 
four  parts :  ist.  Aquitania,  bounded  on  the  east  and 
north  by  Germany,  on  the  south  and  west  by  the 
Pyrenees  and  the  ocean.  The  Aquitanians  and  Ligu- 
rians  who  inhabited  this  region  came  from  Iberia,  the 
former  driving  the  latter  down  upon  Southern  Gaul. 
2nd.  Belgica,  which  was  comprehended  between  the 
Seine  and  the  Garonne.  The  Belgae  were  Cimbri ; 
they  were  driven  into  Gaul  by  the  frequent  expulsion  of 

*  See  "  Les  Gaulois,"  by  Amedee  Thierry,  4th  edit.,  1857  ; 
"  La  Gaule  sous  la  domination  romaine,"  by  the  same.  "  Histoire 
de  France,"  Vol.  I.,  by  Henri  Martin.  "Histoire  de  FEglise  de 
F  ranee,"  by  Abbe  Guettee,  Vol.  I. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  45 

their  race  from  the  lands  between  the  Euxine  and  the 
Danube.  3rd.  The  settlement  of  the  Galli  or  Celts,  who 
belonged  to  the  same  race.  They  had  been  brought  into 
Gaul  by  an  earlier  invasion,  and  occupied  a  line  of 
country  which,  commencing  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Tarn,  followed  first  that  stream  and  then  the  Rhone,  the 
Isere,  the  Alps,  the  Rhine,  the  Vosges,  the  Loire,  and 
finally  rejoined  the  Garonne.  4th.  The  Phocaean  colony, 
the  capital  of  which  was  Marseilles,  on  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean. 

Gaul,  after  its  conquest  by  Caesar,  was  divided  by 
Augustus  into  four  provinces :  1st.  The  old  Roman 
province  which  was  called  Narbonensis.  2nd.  Aqui- 
tania,  which  was  enlarged,  and  extended  from  the 
Pyrenees  to  the  Loire.  3rd.  Belgica,  which  included 
the  whole  of  the  north;  and  4th.  Celtica,  or  Lugdu- 
nensis,  occupying  the  whole  centre  of  the  country 
enclosed  by  the  Loire,  the  Rhone  from  Lyons,  the  Rhine 
and  the  Marne,  the  Seine  and  the  sea. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  success  of  Christian 
missions  in  the  central  part  of  Gaul  (Lugdunensis), 
which  became  a  second  Italy,  so  complete  was  the 
appropriation  of  Roman  civilisation.  We  have,  then, 
now  only  to  trace  the  progress  of  Christianity  in  the 
west  and  north  of  Gaul.  Here  the  old  nationality  was 
more  strongly  retained.  The  Gauls,  an  ardent  and 
impulsive  race,  full  of  life  and  fervour,  great  talkers 
and  great  fighters,  were  passionately  fond  of  action. 
Adventures  and  perils  were  their  delight.  Distant 
expeditions  had  an  irresistible  charm  for  them.  They 
had  founded  a  republic  in  Asia ;  Italy,  before  it  brought 
them  into  subjection,  had  been  made  to  feel  their  yoke. 
Their  curiosity  was  insatiable  ;  and  Caesar  tells  us  how 
they  would  stop  travellers  to  hear  from  them  some  new 


46  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

thing.*  Fond  of  display,  brilliant  in  everything,  they 
attired  themselves  in  gay  colours,  and  their  graphic 
and  fervid  speech  was  in  harmony  with  the  crimson 
tunic  which  they  affected.  Divided  into  numberless 
tribes,  they  had  a  thousand  opportunities  to  gratify 
their  warlike  passion,  and  among  them  war  knew 
neither  truce  nor  end.  The  Roman  administration  did 
not  succeed  in  subduing  to  its  own  type  this  strongly 
marked  nationality,  which  still  retained  a  persistent 
life,  and  boldly  broke  through  the  monotony  of  the 
imperial  code.  The  further,  however,  we  advance  to 
the  west  and  north,  the  more  of  gravity  do  we  find  in 
the  Gallic  race.  In  these  regions  the  Druidical  system 
assumed  a  definite  form.  The  religion  of  the  ancient 
Gauls  was  originally  a  rude  and  simple  naturalism,  like 
all  the  Eastern  religions. t  They  brought  it  from  the 
"cradle  of  the  Indo-Germanic  race,  of  which  they  were 
one  of  the  branches.  The  forces  of  nature  were  at 
first  worshipped  without  symbols  of  any  kind  ;  then, 
rising  one  step,  the  polytheism  of  the  Gauls  personified 
them  after  the  manner  of  the  Vedas.  Taranis  was  the 
spirit  of  thunder,  the  Indra,  or  the  celestial  Jupiter, 
the  god  of  heaven.  The  sun  was  adored  under  the 
name  of  Bel,  or  Belenus.  There  were  special  divi- 
nities of  the  Vosges  and  the  Alps.  The  god  of 
war  was  called  Hesus.  Teutates  represented  the 
Greek  Mercury,  the  swift  messenger-god.  Such  was 
the  popular  polytheism,  which,  aiter  the  Roman  con- 
quest, became  confounded  with  Greco-Roman  paganism, 
and  lost  its  original  character. 

But,  side  by  side  with  this  current  of  common  tra- 
dition, we  trace  another  stream  both  deeper  and  purer. 

*  Caesar,  "  Bella  Gall.,"  IV.  1-5. 

t  See  Amedee  Thierry,  "  Histoire  des  Gaulois,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  475-490. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS. 


47 


That  dogma  of  oriental  mythology,  which  is  the  common 
basis  of  all  the  old  religions,  is  not  discarded  :  it  is  only 
elaborated  and  refined  upon.  It  undergoes  a  trans- 
formation analogous  to  that  which  we  have  indicated 
in  the  religion  of  the  Vedas,  when  the  Indians,  having 
come  down  from  the  heights  of  the  Himalayas, 
reached  the  shores  of- the  Ganges.  The  Druids  are  the 
Brahmins  of  the  West ;  the  system  developed  by  them 
has  more  than  one  feature  of  resemblance  with  the 
exalted  pantheism  of  the  far  East.  It  is,  however, 
distinguished  by  a  less  contemplative,  less  ascetic 
character.  Its  doctrines  tend  rather  to  the  renewal 
than  to  the  annihilation  of  being.  Its  religious 
ideas  bear  the  impress  of  a  warlike  race,  growing  up 
under  the  influences  of  a  climate  favourable  rather  to 
vigorous  action  than  to  the  slumberous  reveries  of  India. 
Much  talk  has  lately  been  made  about  Druidism.  Men 
have  spoken  of  it  as  a  sort  of  anticipation  of  the  true 
religion,  as  the  rudimentary  form  of  that  more  perfect 
faith,  after  which  the  heart  of  man  had  so  long 
sighed,  and  as  well  adapted  to  renew  in  our  day 
the  youth  of  a  decrepit  world.*  Without  entering  into 
a  discussion,  which  would  be  here  out  of  place,  we  will 
simply  show  what  the  Druidic  religion  was,  not  ac- 
cording to  uncertain  documents,  in  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  distinguish  between  the  original  text  and 
commentaries  and  additions  derived  from  Christianity, 
but  according  to  the  incomplete  but  sure  testimony  01 
the  historians  of  antiquity. t 

*  See  the  article,  "  Druidisme,"  in  the  "  Encyclopedic  Nouvelle," 
by  M.  Jean  Reynaud.  See  also  the  interesting  pages  devoted  to 
this  subject,  by  M.  Henri  Martin,  in  his  "  Histoire  de  France/' 
Vol.  I.  pp.  48-54. 

+  M.  Jean  Reynaud  and  his  disciples  have  taken  as  the  basis  of 
their  estimate    of  Druidism,  the  old  Breton  songs  collected  and 


^8  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Druidism  lays  clown,  as  a  first  principle,  the  eternity 
of  matter  and  of  spirit.  The  universe  is  perpetually 
renewed  by  water  and  by  fire.  Man  shares  in  this  immor- 
tality of  all  beings.  "Souls,  according  to  the  Druids," 
says  Strabo,  "  are  immortal  as  the  world."  "  Their 
first  desire,"  adds  Csesar,  "  is  to  establish  that  souls  do 
not  perish,  but  that  after  this  life  they  pass  into  other 
bodies."*  Beyond  our  world  there  opens  another 
world,  like  ours,  but  more  beautiful,  in  which,  under  a 
new  form,  the  soul  preserves  its  identity.  Its  existence 
is  there  carried  on  under  conditions  which  differ  ac- 
cording to  the  degree  of  merit. 

The  Druids  held  that  a  close  link  bound  the 
survivors  to  the  departed.  The  flame  of  the  funeral 
pile  brought  tidings  from  the  land  of  souls,  and  letters 
were  cast  into  the  fire,  which  the  dead  man  was  to 
read  in  the  other  world,  or  to  transmit  to  souls  already 
glorified. t  The  idea  of  solidarity  was  largely  developed 
among  the  Gauls.  The  life  of  one  man  might  be  re- 
deemed by  that  of  another.  Hence  voluntary  sacrifices 
were  frequent.  The  Druids  practised  magic  with  its 
worst  attendant  superstitions.  The  mistletoe  played 
an  important  part  in  their  rites  ;  growing  upon  the  oak, 
the  tree  of  peculiar  sanctity,  they  believed  it  to  possess 
exceptional  virtue.  They  also  looked  for  omens  in  the 
agonies  of  the  prisoners  who  were  sacrificed,  or  rather 

published  by  M.  Pictet.  of  Geneva  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  accept 
these  as  representing  Druidism  in  its  primitive  form.  We  feel  in 
every  line  that  the  breath  of  Christianity  has  been  upon  it.  As 
well  might  we  study  Parseeism  in  the  "  Bundehesch,"  as  study  the 
ancient  religion  of  Gaul  in  the  "Triads."  M.  Henri  Martin  himself 
admits  that  these  have  undergone  many  alterations.    (Vol.  I.  p.  75.) 

*    'A<p9dpTOV£    XkyoVOl    TUQ    \PvXUQ    Kttl    TUV    KOCTflOV.        (StrabO,    Bk.     IV. 

p-  197.)     "In  primis  hoc  volunt  persuadere  non  interire  animas." 
iCaesar,  "Bella  Gall.,"  IV.  14,  VI.  14.) 
t  Diodorus  of  Sicily,  "Historia"  V.  28. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  49 

consumed  by  thousands  in  the  wicker  colossus  into 
which  they  were  thrown. 

The  priesthood  among  the  Druids  was  of  three  orders. 
The  bards  or  singers  constituted  the  first ;  the  Ovates, 
a  description  of  Levites,  charged  with  the  sacrifices, 
formed  the  second  ;  and  the  Druids,  or  guardians  of  the 
oaks,  the  third,  or  highest  order.  These,  as  the  guardians 
of  tradition,  as  prophets  and  instructors,  formed  the 
teaching  body.  "  They  were  philosophers  and  theo- 
logians," says  Diodorus  Siculus.*  "  Their  elevated 
dignity  was  due,"  says  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  "  to 
their  elevation  of  mind,  to  their  devotion  to  subjects  the 
most  profound  and  sublime."  t  To  them  is  owing  the 
development  of  Gallic  polytheism  into  a  system.  Their 
teaching,  which  was  entirely  verbal,  was  also  rhyth- 
mical, so  as  to  be  the  more  readily  retained. 

Such  are  the  principal  features  of  the  Druidic  religion. 
More  than  this  can  be  said  of  it  only  by  venturing  on  the 
ground  of  pure  hypothesis.  To  admit,  according  to  an 
inscription  discovered  in  the  twelfth  century,  on  a  sub- 
terranean altar  beneath  Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  that  the 
Druids  worshipped  in  Hesus  one  supreme  god,  veritably 
distinct  from  the  world,  and  answering  to  the  Jehovah 
of  the  Old  Testament, X  is  to  build  up  a  magnificent 
system  on  an  isolated  and  very  fragile  foundation-stone. 
Is  it  not  also  a  forcing  of  interpretation  to  see,  in  the 
mistletoe  creeping  over  the  oak — the  tree  of  Hesus — the 
symbol  of  the  finite  creature  supported  by  the  Universal 
Being,  but  not  absorbed  by  Him  ?  What  might  not  be 
found  in  the  numberless  fables  of  ancient  mythology  by 

*  tyiXocrocpoi  Kal  OtoXoyoi.     (Diod.  Sic,  V.  31.) 
f  "  Druidi,    ingeniis  celsiores,   quaestionibus  occultarum  rerum 
altarumque  erecti  sunt."     (Amm.  Marcell.,  Bk.  XV.  c.  9.) 
X  Henri  Martin,  Vol.  I.  p.  57. 


50  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

such  a  process  ?  To  discern,  in  the  voluntary  human 
sacrifices,  a  noble  faith  in  immortality,  and  to  liken  the 
systematic  slaughter  of  captives  to  the  destruction  of 
the  nations  of  Canaan,  is  unwarrantably  to  extenuate 
the  worst  aspect  of  Druidism,  without  succeeding  in 
commending  it  to  the  conscience.  We  cannot  subscribe 
to  the  conclusion  of  a  learned  historian,  when  he  says : 
"Our  fathers  represent,  in  the  Celtic  world,  the  most 
steadfast  and  clearest  conception  of  immortality  ever 
realised."*  Without  denying  the  grand  features  of 
Druidism,  and  while  fully  admitting  its  superiority  to 
Brahminism  in  all  that  is  manly  and  vigorous,  we  yet 
fail  to  see  anything  truly  spiritual  in  a  doctrine  which 
terminates  in  metempsychosis  and  proclaims  the 
eternity  of  matter.  Druidism  is  no  more  exempt  than 
the  other  religions  of  the  old  world,  from  the  dualism 
which  keeps  them  all  outside  the  domain  of  the  moral 
and  the  spiritual.  Salvation,  realised  by  man's  transit 
through  various  successive  forms  of  being,  is  still  sal- 
vation, accomplished  by  man  himself,  either  by  strength 
or  by  merit  of  his  own.  Of  the  most  characteristic 
doctrine  of  Christianity,  there  is  not  even  a  glimpse. 
Valerius  Maximus  defined  Druidism  with  entire  exact- 
ness, when  he  called  it  a  new  Pythagorism.t  It  has  both 
the  greatness  and  the  deficiencies  of  the  Pythagorean 
system  ;  and  when  we  strip  it  of  all  which  it  borrowed 
from  Christianity  during  the  first  centuries  of  our  era, 
we  see  it  in  its  true  character,  as  a  combination  of 
monstrous  errors  with  genuine  aspirations.  The 
horrible  and  barbarous  nature  of  its  sanguinary  rites, 
and  that  craving  after  an  infinite  expiation  which 
prompted  such  a  multiplication   of  human   sacrifices, 

*  Henri  Martin,  Vol.  I.  p.  80. 
"  Idem  senserunt  quod  Pythagoras."  (Valerius  Maximus,  II.  9.) 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  51 

forcibly  testify  to  the  consciousness  of  its  own 
insufficiency.  Like  other  idolatrous  religions,  it 
prepared  the  way  for  its  Divine  successor,  not  by 
anticipating  the  solution  of  the  great  religious  problem 
set  forth  in  it,  but  by  stimulating  the  demands  of 
conscience.  The  slight  glimpses  it  gave  of  a  future 
life  are  of  value  only  as  thus  regarded  ;  for,  considered 
as  a  system,  Druidism  totters,  like  all  dualistic 
pantheism,  and  is  unsound  from  its  very  foundation. 

Western  and  northern  Gaul  did  not  receive  the 
Gospel  until  the  third  century.  The  apostolic  origin 
of  Christianity  in  those  countries  is  a  purely  fabulous 
tradition.  Legend  has  confounded  Gaul  with  Galatia, 
into  which  province  w7e  find  St.  Paul  sending  Crescens, 
one  of  his  travelling  companions,  a  short  time  before 
his  death.*  Hence  has  arisen  the  tradition  that  the 
messenger  of  the  great  Apostle  landed  on  the  shores 
of  Gaul.  It  is  possible  that  as  early  as  the  second 
century,  some  vague  reports  of  the  new  religion  may 
have  been  carried  beyond  Gallia  Lugdunensis,  since 
Irenseus  mentions  the  Celts  among  the  nations  which 
had  heard  the  Gospel. t  Communications  had  become 
easy  by  the  broad  highway  crossing  the  country. 
Amedee  Thierry  says :  "  Gaul,  under  the  Roman 
administration,  presented  much  the  same  spectacle 
as  North  America  fifty  years  ago ;  great  cities  rising 
on  the  ruins  of  poor  villages  or  of  rude  fortifications  ; 
Roman  and  Greek  art  unfolding  its  treasures  in  places 
only  yet  half  civilised  ;  roads  furnished  with  relays 
of  horses,  stores,  and  halting-places  for  the  troops  ; 
inns  for  travellers  crossing  forests  of  ages'  growth  ; 
fleets  of  commerce  sailing  in  all  directions  on  the 
Rhone,   the  Loire,  the    Garonne,  the    Seine,  and  the 

*  2  Tim.  iv.  10.  f  Ircnrcus,  "  Contr.  Hseres.,"  Vol.  I.  3. 


52  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Rhine,  bringing  in  foreign  commodities,  and  carrying 
away  the  products  of  the  country."  *  This  great 
current  of  commerce  could  hardly  fail  to  bring  about 
an  intercommunication  of  ideas  and  beliefs  all  over 
the  land.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  reign 
of  Decius  that  important  Churches  were  founded  in 
western  and  northern  Gaul.  Seven  missionaries  left 
Rome  at  that  period  to  carry  the  Gospel  into  those 
countries.  Trophimus  alone  remained  in  the  south, 
and  settled  at  Aries.  Gatian  went  to  Tours,  Paul 
to  Narbonne,  Saturnin  to  Toulouse,  Stremonius  to 
Clermont,  Martial  to  Limoges,  and  Dionysius  to  Paris. t 
So  abundant  are  the  legends  that  no  reliable  in- 
formation is  to  be  obtained  about  this  mission.  We 
may  conclude,  however,  from  this  very  profusion  of 
mythic  story  embodying  the  popular  feeling,  that 
the  mission  was  attended  with  marked  success.  It 
is  probable  that  each  of  the  seven  emissaries  was 
a  sort  of  missionary  captain,  accompanied  by  several 
Christians.  Thus  the  Church  at  Bourges  was  founded 
by  a  disciple  of  Stremonius.  Its  foundation  took 
place  under  very  interesting  circumstances,  which 
may  well  have  occurred  also  in  other  cities.  A  rich 
citizen  of  the  town,  named  Leocadius,  having  forsaken 
paganism  for  the  Gospel,  gave  his  house  to  the 
missionaries,  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  worship.^ 
Dionysius  was  the  most  active  apostle  of  the  Gauls. 
From  Lutetia  (Paris),  where  he  resided,  and  where  he 
suffered  martyrdom,  he  sent  missionaries  into  all  the 
neighbouring  districts,§  and  widely  extended  the  empire 

*  Amedee  Thierry,  "  Les  Gaulois,"  Vol.  I.  p.  352. 

t  Gregory  of  Tours,  "  Historia  Francis,"  Vol.  I.  c.  xxx. 

X  Ibid.,  c.  xxix. 

§  According  to  M.  Edmond  le  Blanc,  the  crypt  discovered  in 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  53 

of  Christianity.  Some  of  his  companions  carried  the 
Gospel  into  the  north  of  Gaul.  History  gives  us 
no  more  positive  information  as  to  the  first  propagation 
of  the  faith  in  western  Gaul. 

The  British  Isles,  divided  from  Gaul  by  some  leagues 
of  sea,  observing  the  same  religion,  and  subjected 
also  to  the  Roman  yoke — first  nominally  in  the 
time  of  Caesar,  and  then  with  terrible  reality  under 
Claudius — received  Christianity  at  the  same  time. 
Tertullian  speaks  of  it  as  planted  in  Britain.* 
"  The  Isles  of  Britain,"  says  Chrysostom,  "  lying 
beyond  our  seas,  in  the  very  heart  of  ocean,  have 
experienced  the  power  of  the  Word,  and  churches  and 
altars  have  been  there  erected."  t  So  considerable 
an  establishment  of  religion  seemed  to  imply  previous 
missions.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to  trace  these 
as  far  back  as  to  St.  Paul,  according  to  the  famous 
passage  in  Clement  of  Rome,  which  speaks  of  the 
Apostle  as  going  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  west. 
But  no  certain  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  these 
vague  terms.  We  have  no  positive  statement  as  to 
the  first  introduction  of  Christianity  into  these  countries. 
The  conversion  of  the  king  Lucius,  which  is  supposed 
to  have  favoured  its  progress,  is  not  confirmed  by  any 
primitive  testimony.  We  can  only  infer  from  the  fact 
that  Easter  was  long  celebrated  in  the  Churches  of 
Great  Britain   according  to  the  practice  in  Asia  Minor, 

161 1,  at  Montmartre.  under  the  chapel  of  a  convent,  and  now  filled 
up,  had  received  the  bones  of  the  martyr.  The  inscriptions  and 
emblems  with  which  this  crypt  was  filled,  carry  us  back  to  the 
third  century,  by  their  similarity  to  the  symbolism  of  the  catacombs. 
("  Inscriptions  chretiennes  de  la  Gaule,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  273-276.) 

*  "  Britannorum  inaccessa  Romanis  loca,  Christo  vero  subdita." 
(Tertullian,  "  Contr.  Judaeos,"  c.  vii.) 

+  Kai  yap  ai  Bptravacai  v>)aot  tv  avr^  ovcrai  t<ij  'QKoary.  (John 
Chrysostom,  "Oratio  quod  Christus  Deus,"  Vol.  I.  p.  7.) 


54  *     THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

that  the  Gospel   had  been  brought  to  the  Britons  by 
Christians  from  the  East.* 

Germany  also  received  .Christianity  in  the  fourth 
century.  Under  the  very  elastic  name  of  Germany, 
antiquity  comprised  the  country  lying  between  the 
Rhine  on  the  west,  the  German  Ocean  on  the  north, 
the  Danube  on  the  south,  and  the  Vistula  on  the  east. 
The  people  inhabiting  this  region  may  be  divided  into 
two  great  sections,  ist.  The  Scandinavians,  occupying 
the  whole  of  the  north.  2nd.  The  Franks  and 
Germans  on  the  shores  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  Goths 
on  the  lower  Danube.  These  several  nations  belonged 
to  the  same  type,  with  slight  variations  between  the 
south  and  north,  and  possessed  the  same  social  or- 
ganisation, and  the  same  religion. t  Tall  in  stature, 
fair-haired  and  blue-eyed,  the  German  is  endowed  with 
prodigious  strength.  He  seems  a  barbarian  to  the 
enervated  and  dissolute  inhabitant  of  Italy  or  Southern 
Gaul.  Nevertheless,  this  barbarian,  in  the  heart  of 
his  deep  forests,  beneath  a  sky  so  sad  and  sullen,  as 
Tacitus  observes,  to  all  but  its  own  children,  has 
already  achieved  for  himself  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant conquests  of  a  more  advanced  civilisation. 
His  family  relations  are  established  on  a  solid  basis ; 
woman  holds  a  high  rank  in  the  regard  of  her  people. 
She  is  no  slave,  the  sport  of  a  domestic  tyrant,  having 
no  rights,  no  opinions,  no  high  and  noble  affections  ;  she 
is  truly  the  wife  and  mother.  She  has  the  noble 
passions  of  patriotism ;   she   is   the   companion  of  the 

*  For  the  early  history  of  Christianity  in  England  see  the 
venerable  Bedes  history.  Blumhardt,  in  his  translation,  gives  too 
much  credence  to  local  traditions,  linking  them  skilfully  together, 
but  without  at  all  establishing  their  authenticity. 

f  The  great  authority  for  the  general  characteristics  of  the 
Germans  is  Tacitus. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  55 

warrior,  the  inspirer  of  national  heroism.  She  may 
be  seen  sometimes  rallying  to  the  attack  a  disordered 
and  flying  troop,  and  in  defeat  she  manifests  a  grief 
which  is  grand,  even  in  its  cruel  excess,  because  it  is 
disinterested.  This  respect  for  woman  maintains  the 
purity  of  manners.  Adultery  was  an  abomination 
among  the  Germans,  and  their  severe  morality  formed 
a  striking  contrast  with  the  laxity  of  Roman  civilisa- 
tion. Let  us  on  this  subject  hear  the  witness  of 
Salvian,  who  is  describing  the  barbarians  of  the 
invasion,  already  considerably  tainted  by  the  general 
corruption  of  the  times.  "  We  are  immoral,"  he 
says,  "among  a  barbarous  people,  who  are  habit- 
ually chaste.  I  may  say  more,  they  are  offended 
by  our  impurities.  Adultery  is  not  tolerated  by  a 
Goth.  What  hope,  I  ask,  have  we  before  God  ? 
We  revel  in  licence,  the  Goths  abhor  it.  We  flee 
purity,  they  cherish  it.  Licentiousness  is  with  them 
a  crime,  with  us  it  is  an  honour.  And  we  Romans 
think  that  we  can  find  grace  before  God,  while  we 
sanction  all  sorts  of  infamy  which  the  barbarians 
repudiate.  I  ask  those  who  proclaim  us  to  be  better 
than  the  barbarians,  to  say  if  that  which  is  an  exception 
among  them  is  not  an  almost  universal  rule  with  us  ?  "  * 
The  Germans  were  distinguished  by  their  love  of 
liberty.  They  aimed  to  secure,  not  only  independence 
of  any  foreign  yoke,  but  complete  freedom  in  their  own 
country.  They  did  not  shut  themselves  up  within 
walled  towns.  Every  man  possessed  his  own  little 
enclosure.  If  some  traces  are  to  be  found,  in  the  organ- 
isation of  the  tribes,  of  the  system  of  caste  brought  from 

*  "  Quce  nobis,  rogo,  spcs  ante  Dcum  est  ?  Impudicitatem 
nos  diligimus,  Gothi  exsecrantur.  Puritatem  nos  fugimus  illi  amant." 
(Salviani,  "  De  Gubernatione  Dei,"  pp.  222,  223.) 


56  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  East,  that  system  was  nevertheless  used  with  large 
freedom.  Men  voluntarily  gathered  around  one  of  their 
number,  more  rich  or  powerful  than  the  rest.  Royalty 
had  among  them  no  character  of  tyranny.  The  general 
assembly  of  the  nation  was  sovereign ;  it  expressed  its 
approbation  by  the  clashing  of  weapons  upon  the 
shields,  and  its  disapproval  by  loud  murmurs.  Under 
this  tumultuous  form,  it  maintained  the  rights  of  the 
governed  in  relation  to  the  governing.  This  assembly 
chose  the  judges  of  provinces,  and  the  chiefs  who 
were  to  lead  the  armies  to  battle.  All  these  traits  of 
national  life  indicate  a  genius  widely  differing  from  that 
of  the  southern  nations,  a  genius  which,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Christianity,  will  give  us  the  modern  world. 
It  is  well  said  by  M.  Ozanam  :  "  Among  the  ancient 
peoples  of  the  south,  in  India,  in  Greece,  and  at  Rome, 
authority  is  supreme ;  and  as  authority  is  the  force 
which  founds  and  maintains,  these  nations  have 
covered  half  the  world  with  their  institutions  and  their 
monuments.  But  from  pushing  too  far  the  claims  of 
the  city,  from  making  a  divinity  of  country,  and  paying 
to  it  an  idolatrous  homage,  they  went  on  to  declare 
no  sacrifice  too  great  for  it.  Jurisconsults  proclaimed  the 
maxim,  that  society  has  no  account  to  render  of  its 
decisions.  This  was  the  error  of  the  great  states  of 
antiquity ;  they  perished  from  their  excess,  as  all  such 
powers  must  perish.  The  instinct  of  liberty  fled 
and  found  a  refuge  among  the  Germanic  nations."* 
This  instinct  of  liberty  explains  the  incessant  struggles 
of  these  nations  against  the  power  of  Rome.  The 
empire  found  itself  face  to  face  with  a  nationality  which 
could  only  be  broken  by  force,  which  would  never  be 

*  Ozanam,  "  The  Germans  and  the  Franks."     See  also  Bunsen, 
"  Gott  in  der  Geschichte,"  Second  part,  p.  600. 


BOOK   I.— CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  57 

bent  nor  assimilated.  Rome  might  conquer  by  the 
superior  organisation  of  her  armies,  and  the  military- 
genius  of  her  generals ;  but  the  spirit  of  the  Germanic 
nation  yet  remained  invincible,  and  fresh  rebellion  was 
sure  to  follow.  The  conflict  always  recommenced  on 
the  doubtful  frontier,  which  separated  free  Germany 
from  the  Roman  provinces.  This  formidable  warfare 
was  carried  on  from  the  time  of  Augustus  down  through 
the  reign  of  almost  all  the  emperors,  and  particularly 
under  Domitian,  Trajan,  Antoninus  Pius,  and  Marcus 
Aurelius.  At  length,  in  spite  of  all  its  resources,  in 
spite  of  its  legions,  and  its  traditions  of  victory,  the 
empire  was  compelled  to  succumb.  Weakened  within 
by  its  own  corruption,  and  sapped  by  the  new  religion 
which  it  thought  to  crush,  it  was  impossible  for  it  long 
to  resist  the  assaults  of  a  young  and  valiant  race, 
whose  free  spirit  must  be  enchained,  if  the  world  was 
longer  to  be  kept  securely  under  Roman  control.  The 
apprehension  of  invasion  manifests  itself  from  the  close 
of  the  third  century.  Tertullian,  in  his  "  Apologia," 
speaks  of  theMarcomanni  as  inveterate  enemies  of  the 
empire,  who,  if  the  Christians  had  been  willing,  would 
have  given  them  formidable  support  against  Rome.* 
Commodian,  in  his  "  Spicilegium,"  expresses  the  same 
opinion  about  the  Goths. t  In  the  course  of  the  third 
century,  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  was  enumerated 
among  the  periodical  scourges  of  the  empire. J 

The  apprehension  thus  entertained  was  wrell-founded. 
For  the  first  time,  the  material  power  of  Rome  had 
come  into  collision  with  a  great  moral  power.  It  is 
important  to  note  the  principal  features  of  the  religion 

*  Tertullian,  "  Apologia,"  c.  xxxvii. 

f  "  Spicilegium  Solemnense,"  Vol.  I.  p.  53. 

X  Arnobius,  "Adv.  Gentes,"  I.  4  14. 


^S  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

which  had  tempered  men  of  such  a  mould.*  The  Ger- 
manic tribes,  like  the  Pelasgi,  brought  with  them  from 
the  East,  the  brilliant  and  simple  naturalism  which  is 
the  common  patrimony  of  the  great  race  to  which  they 
belong.  With  the  Germans,  however,  it  soon  underwent 
a  very  sensible  transformation,  and  received  the  impress 
of  their  grave  and  thoughtful  character.  Their  rough, 
ungenial  climate,  saved  them  from  the  fascination 
wrought  by  the  luxuriance  of  nature  under  Asiatic  skies, 
from  the  spell  of  that  perfidious  Maia,  the  irresistible 
enchantress  of  India,  who,  after  raising  that  country 
to  the  most  exalted  pantheism,  let  it  sink,  by  the 
force  of  re-action,  into  the  depths  of  annihilation,  the 
absolute  void,  the  Nirvana  of  Buddhism.  The  Germans 
had  not  that  inexhaustible  fertility  of  the  Indian 
imagination,  which,  combined  with  rare  dialectic  skill, 
gave  birth  to  so  many  ingenious  fables.  Nor,  bar- 
barians as  they  had  ever  been,  were  they  under  the 
temptation  to  create,  like  the  Greeks,  an  aesthetic 
religion,  the  first  element  of  which  should  be  the 
worship  of  the  beautiful  in  human  form.  They  had 
no  great  poets,  nor  gifted  artists  to  call  up  before 
them  an  ideal  of  beauty,  either  in  enchanted  words  or  in 
marble  ;  the  heavy  clouds  which  darkened  their  sky 
had  never  opened  to  disclose  to  their  charmed  gaze  the 
luminous  palaces  of  the  gods,  drinking  ambrosia  on  a 
new  Olympus.  No ;  those  clouds  hung  over  their 
horizon  a  perpetual  mourning  veil.  There  is  an  inex- 
pressible sadness  in  their  mythology ;  but  this  consti- 

*  See  M.  Krafft's  very  conscientious  work  entitled.  "  Die 
Kirchengeschichte  der  Germanischen  Volker,"  Vol.  I.  Edit,  i., 
1854.  See  also  the  analysis  of  the  "  Edda,"  in  the  "  Tableau  de 
la  Litterature  du  nord  au  moyen  age  en  Allemagne  et  en  Angleterre 
en  Scandinavie  et  en  Slavonic  par  Eickhoff."  Paris,  1831.  Ozanam, 
"  Tlic  Germans  and  the  Franks."   Bunsen,  "  Gott  in  c\er  Cpc-v.^1^." 


BOOK  I. — CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS.  59 

tutes,  in  truth,  its  peculiar  merit.  Inferior  poetically, 
and  as  the  learned  or  graceful  rendering  of  popular 
legends,  it  is  superior  as  the  expression  of  the  cravings 
of  conscience.  A  breath  of  moral  life  stirs  and  animates 
it.  The  nations  which  were  destined  best  to  represent 
Christianity  in  the  world  had  need  of  this  severe  train- 
ing. Christianity  was  to  reach,  in  them,  its  most  sure 
abiding-place — the  individual  conscience. 

We  discover,  in  the  religion  of  the  Germanic  tribes,  as 
in  all  the  ancient  religions,  a  double  current;  a  material- 
istic tendency,  side  by  side  with  a  tendency  more  noble 
and  moral.  In  a  worship,  the  basis  of  which  was,  after 
all,  the  worship  of  nature,  vulgar  minds  could  always  find 
means  to  protect  and  sanction  their  grosser  instincts. 
They  attached  themselves  to  those  elements  in  religion 
which  responded  best  to  their  bias  and  desires.  Thus 
they  gave  prominence  to  the  ferocious  and  warlike  aspect 
of  Odin  and  Thor,  and  the  goddess  Freya  became  to 
many,  the  German  Venus.  The  Romans  were  especially 
struck  with  the  points  of  resemblance  between  the 
religion  of  these  barbarous  people  and  their  own  worship. 
They  spoke  of  their  gods  simply  in  this  aspect.  In  Odin 
they  saw  their  own  Mercury,  and  in  Thor  their  Mars.* 
Tacitus,  who  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  higher  side  of 
the  German  national  character,  yet  failed  to  discern 
the  purer  and  less  apparent  religious  thought,  which  lay 
concealed  from  the  eyes  of  strangers,  beneath  the  rude 
forms  of  the  popular  religion.  Like  Caesar,  he  saw  the 
naturalism  of  the  Germans,  embodied  in  the  adoration 
of  Hertha,  or  the  earth  ;  but  he  also  utterly  failed  to  see 
that  which  lay  beneath.  Of  the  deepest  and  most 
characteristic  features  of  the   Germanic  mythology,  he 

*  Ozanam,  "  The  Germans  and  the  Franks,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  42-55. 


60  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

had  no  conception.*  Recent  discoveries,  due  in  great 
measure  to  the  Brothers  Grimm,  have  given  us  an 
insight  into  these  hidden  beliefs,  which  were  the  in- 
spiring thought  of  a  whole  body  of  ancient  legends, 
preserved  in  Iceland,  under  the  name  of  the  Eddas. 
It  is  now  proved  that  these  legends,  in  their  most 
ancient  form,  existed  prior  to  Christianity. 

History  and  cosmogony  are  plainly  blended  in  this 
mythology.  The  conflict  between  the  powers  by  which 
the  world  was  formed,  points  to  the  wars  waged  by  the 
Germanic  people  in  the  far  past.  This  occasions  in- 
extricable confusion  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  easy  to 
discern  the  characteristic  features  of  the  Germanic 
religion.  We  cannot  go  over  its  fables  in  detail ;  we 
shall  simply  direct  attention  to  the  main  points.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Edda,  an  invisible  intelligence  presided 
over  the  formation  of  the  world,  and  directed  it.  The 
world  hung  upon  the  empty  void,  before  any  creature 
was  called  into  being.  A  fountain  gushed  from  the 
North  Pole,  and  froze  into  an  enormous  mass  of  ice. 
This  ice,  softened  by  the  burning  rays,  darted  from  the 
South  Pole,  formed  the  huge  body  of  the  great  Ymir, 
the  image  of  Chaos,  from  which  are  born  the  giant  of 
the  hoar-frost  and  the  giant  of  the  flames.  These  vast 
creations  symbolise  the  unchained  and  destructive 
elements,  which  come  forth  from  the  bosom  of  Chaos, 
and  wage  desperate  warfare  till  order  and  harmony  are 
restored.  The  supreme  intelligence  causes  the  cow 
Audumbla  to  arise,  which,  by  licking  the  ice  from 
which  it  derives  its  nourishment,  models  in  some 
manner  all  the  parts  of  a  gigantic  body;  the  hair,  the 
head,  the  members  are  thus  formed.     This  new  giant 

*  Caesar,  "  De  Bella  Gall.,"  I.  50.  Tacitus,  "  Germania,"  VIII., 
and  "  Historia,"  IV.  p.  61. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  6l 

is  called  Bur.  He  has  a  son  named  Bor,  who  is  the 
father  of  Odin,  Vil,  and  Loder,  the  triple  personifica- 
tion of  life,  light,  and  heat.  These  three  brothers  slay 
Ymir,  and,  with  the  fragments  of  his  body,  compose 
the  various  parts  of  the  universe. 

Nine  spheres  are  thus  formed  :  those  of  light,  of  fire,  of 
the  Ases  or  gods,  of  the  Vanes  orgnomes,  of  men,  of  giants, 
of  dwarfs,  of  darkness,  and  lastly  of  ice,  in  which  dwell 
the  infernal  monsters.  The  universe  thus  formed  has 
for  its  emblem  the  tree  Ydrahill,  which  casts  its  roots 
into  the  deep  and  frozen  abyss,  while  its  shining  top  is 
crowned  with  stars.  Man  was  formed  by  the  Ases  or 
gods.  His  enemies  are  the  dwarfs  and  giants  which 
symbolise  the  blind  material  forces  of  Nature.  The 
principal  god  is  Odin,  the  great  warrior.  His  sons  are 
many;  we  mention  only  Thor,  the  personification  of 
fierce  valour,  and  Baldur,  the  god  of  peace.  Odin  is 
the  father  of  many  other  divinities,  which  are  only  im- 
personations of  various  natural  or  moral  powers.  There 
is  continual  war  between  the  giants  and  the  dwarfs. 

In  these  incongruous  fables,  we  discern  one  grand 
idea — faith  in  an  invisible  spirit,  the  supreme  ruling 
principle  of  the  world.  If  dualism  is  not  vanquished, 
it  is  yet  undeniable  that  an  important  part  is  assigned 
in  creation  to  the  invisible  spirit.  He  it  is  who  calls 
forth  the  power  of  organisation,  and  gives  form  to  the 
beings  which  emerge  from  a  shapeless  chaos.  Again, 
the  distinction  between  purely  natural  powers  and 
powers  of  a  moral  nature,  is  sharply  drawn.-  The  Ases 
or  gods  are  clearly  distinguished  from  the  giants  and  the 
dwarfs,  their  eternal  enemies  ;  man  is  privileged  to  have 
the  former  as  his  defenders,  the  latter  as  his  adversaries. 

The  peculiar  originality  and  beauty  of  the  Germanic 
mythology  does  not    lie,  however,  in  this  cosmogony, 


62  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

singular  as  it  is,  like  all  popular  legend,  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  world.  That  by  which  this  mythology  is 
distinguished  from  every  other,  is  the  deep  conscious- 
ness it  reveals  of  the  Fall,  and  the  universality  which  it 
assigns  to  it.  Not  men  alone  have  fallen,  but  the  gods 
also.  The  Germans  include  their  very  divinities  in  the 
great  shipwreck  of  the  Fall,  and  thus  boldly  avow  the 
insufficiency  of  their  polytheism.  After  a  brief  age  of 
gold,  the  gods  suffer  themselves  to  be  vanquished  by 
the  giants  and  the  dwarfs.  Locki,  the  perfidious  giant, 
binds  them  in  his  snares.  He  leads  them  into  a  fatal 
alliance  ;  and  Baldur,  the  pacific  hero,  the  god  of  peace 
and  love,  pays  with  his  death  the  price  of  this  accursed 
union.  Thus  the  moral  powers  are  vanquished  by  the 
material.  Religious  feeling  has  lost  its  primitive  purity. 
The  gods  worshipped  in  the  present  era  are  only  fallen 
gods;  religion  itself  bears  the  marks  of  the  Fall.  When 
did  the  conscience  of  man  ever  make  a  more  significant 
admission,  or  express  more  forcibly  its  yearnings  after 
the  religion  of  the  future  ?  The  Edda  paints  in  strik- 
ing colours  that  dark  age  of  universal  decay,  which  set 
in  after  the  fall  of  the  gods.  The  decease  of  Baldur, 
the  pacific  hero,  introduced  the  age  of  death  and  con- 
demnation. "  After  the  death  of  Baldur,  all  creatures 
wept,  and  the  trees  and  rocks  wept  with  them.  Only 
one  daughter  of  the  giants  would  not  weep ;  and,  since 
the  redemption  of  Baldur  from  death  required  the  tears 
of  every  creature,  he  remained  among  the  dead."* 
What  a  grand  conception,  which  leaves  to  the  fallen 
creature  no  other  part  in  the  work  of  his  restoration 
than  to  weep  his  fall!  This  sorrowful  period  was  to 
last  for  three  winters.  Mankind  has  not  yet  passed 
through  the  first.  Its  whole  present  history  is  in  truth 
#  Ozanam,  "  The  Germans  and  the  Franks,"  Vol.  I.  p.  36. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  63 

but  one  pale  winter,  dark  and  desolate,  wrapping  a 
winding-sheet  round  every  joy,  quenching  all  bright- 
ness, freezing  to  the  very  heart.  The  braves  who  fought 
the  fight  for  Odin  are  transported  to  the  Valhalla,  the 
intermediate  abode,  where  they  carry  on  their  warlike 
sports,  and  prepare  for  the  combats  of  the  future. 

There  is,  in  truth,  in  reserve  for  the  world,  one  final 
crisis.  "  The  good  tree  Ydrahill  will  quiver  in  ex- 
pectation of  the  threatening  woes.  The  serpent  twined 
around  it  will  writhe  with  rage.  The  wolf  Fenrir,  the 
emblem  of  destruction,  will  break  his  chains  and 
devour  the  moon;  the  stars  will  be  darkened.  The 
giants  will  enter  on  a  terrible  struggle  with  the  gods. 
Odin  will  be  vanquished.  The  earth  will  be  plunged 
beneath  the  ocean ;  the  stars  will  be  quenched,  and  the 
fire  will  mount  up  to  heaven.  It  will  be  the  night  of 
the  gods."  But  this  night  will  be  followed  by  a  morn- 
ing. A  brighter  sun  will  shine  upon  a  renovated  earth. 
A  man  and  a  woman  who  have  escaped  the  fearful 
destruction  will  give  birth  to  a  renewed  humanity;  a 
new  god,  the  son  of  Baldur,  will  reign  over  the  re- 
generated world.  This  new  god  is  the  object  of  the 
expectation  and  ardent  desire  of  the  Germanic  peoples. 
"  One  day,"  say  they  in  their  songs,  "  will  come  a  god 
mightier  than  Odin  ;  but  his  name  may  not  be  said."* 
Thus  the  hymn  to  the  unknown  god  rises  from  sombre 
Germany  as  from  brilliant  Athens,  and  the  barbarians 
join  with  the  Greeks  in  calling  for  him.  Let  us  re- 
cognise in  these  universal  accents,  the  same  voice  of 
the  human  conscience,  ever  asking  after  God.  "  There 
is   a  mystery,"  eloquently  observes  Ozanam,   "which 

*  "  Einst  kommt  ein  anderer  mlichtiger  als  er.  Doch  ihn  zu 
namen  wag  ich  nicht."  (Krafft,  "  Die  Kirchengcschichte  der  Ger- 
manischen  Volker,"  p.  211.) 


&4  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

for  six  thousand  years  has  engaged  the  thoughts  of  the 
world,  and  which  is  the  basis  of  all  religions.  Conflict, 
the  fall,  redemption,  these  are  the  first  elements  of  all 
alike  ;  all  beyond  is  secondary,  only  various  readings 
and  episodes  of  the  same  theme."  "  Thus  humanity 
has  ever  sung  its  own  story ;  it  has  presented  to  itself 
no  other  spectacle  than  that  of  its  ancient  griefs ;  and 
I  cease  to  wonder  that  it  has  never  wearied  of  the  same. 
It  loves  to  see  and  touch  its  wounds,  even  if  it  opens 
them  afresh  ;  and  hence  it  is  we  find  a  pleasure  in 
poetry,  and  are  not  satisfied  unless  it  is  full  of  tears."* 
Neither  the  Athenians  nor  the  Romans  had  at  all 
the  same  sorrowful  sense  as  the  Germans  of  man's 
fallen  estate,  of  that  desolate  winter  of  humanity,  that 
night  of  the  gods,  which  is  lighted  only  by  one  im- 
mortal hope,  like  the  star  which  heralds  the  dawn. 
This  earnest  race  was  thus  singularly  prepared  to 
receive  the  Gospel.  But  it  was  not  till  the  next 
century  that  Christianity  really  found  its  way  to  the 
hearts  of  the  Germanic  peoples,  and  then  they  received 
it  for  a  time  in  the  mutilated  form  of  Arianism.  They 
were  not  passed  by,  however,  in  the  great  missionary 
movement  of  the  third  century.  A  bishop  of  the 
Goths  sits  in  the  Council  of  Nicaea ;  t  and  Sozomen, 
whose  account  is  corroborated  by  Philostorgius,  tells 
us  that  some  Christian  captives  had  spread  their  faith 
among  these  barbarous  tribes.  He  says:  "The  Goths 
and  the  races  bordering  on  the  Danube,  having  already 
received  the  Christian  faith,  became  more  gentle  and 
humane  in  their  manners."  X  These  barbarous  people 
learned  to  know  the   Gospel   through   the  wars   per- 

*  Ozanam,  "  The  Germans  and  the  Franks,"  Vol,  I.  p.  224. 
t  "  De  Gothis."     Theophilus  Bosphoritanus, 
J  T\a\ai  ^.UTtxovTeQ  ti)q  $iq  Xpiaj-ov  ttktthijc. 


BOOK   I. — CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS.  65 

petually  waged  against  them  by  the  Romans  under 
Gallienus  and  his  suceessors  ;  for  in  those  times,  a  great 
multitude  of  barbarians  of  all  nations,  having  thrown 
themselves  from  Thrace  upon  Asia,  and  ravaged  it, 
and  others  having  attacked  the  Romans  on  their  own 
frontiers,  many  Christians,  and  even  some  priests, 
were  brought  among  them  as  prisoners.  These  healed 
the  sick  and  demoniacs  by  naming  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  calling  upon  the  Son  of  God  ;  their  life  was  ex- 
emplary, and  their  virtues  disarmed  hostility.  The 
barbarians  were  filled  with  admiration  of  their  holiness 
and  their  wonderful  works,  and  they  thought  it  must 
be  the  path  of  wisdom,  and  agreeable  to  God,  for  them 
to  imitate  those  whom  they  saw  to  be  better  than 
themselves,  and  to  embrace  their  religion.  They  asked 
the  Christians  what  they  ought  to  do,  and  after  being 
instructed  by  them,  they  received  holy  baptism,  and 
then  took  their  place  in  the  Church  of  Christ.* 
Christianity  was  introduced  in  the  same  manner 
in  the  provinces  of  the  Rhine,  t  We  find  Maternus, 
Bishop  of  Treves,  sitting  in  the  Council  of  Nicaea. 
The  Church  of  Cologne  yielded  many  martyrs 
in  the  persecutions  of  the  third  century.  The 
greater  number  of  the  cities  situated  on  the  river 
received  Christianity,  as  we  find  by  the  inscriptions 
on  gravestones,  the  date  of  which  is  determined  by 
their  resemblance  to  those  of  the  catacombs.  Many 
are  engraved  in  Greek  characters,  from  which  we 
conclude  that  the  Gospel  was  brought  into  these 
regions  by  Christians  from  the  East.J 

*  Sozomen,  "  H.  E."  Bk.  II.  c.  6.  ^  Philostorgius,  Vol.  II.  c.  5. 

+  RSt]  yap  to.  re  d/.i<pl  tov  pt)vov  <pv\a  ixpi<JTiaviZ,ov.  (Sozomen, 
"H.  E.,"Bk.  II.  c.  6.) 

X  See  Edmond  Blanc,  "  Inscriptions  chretienr.es  de  la  Gaule," 
Vol.  V.  pp.  327,  396,  421. 


66       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

All  the  countries  bordering  on  Gaul  also  embraced 
the  Christian  faith.  It  is  impossible  to  vouch  for 
the  authenticity  of  a  single  one  of  the  innumerable 
details  given  in  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs"  of  these 
missions.  Their  success,  however,  is  beyond  dispute. 
It  appears  to  have  been  very  marked  in  Helvetia. 
There  we  find  the  same  race  and  the  same  religion 
as  in  Gaul.  The  only  traces  we  have  of  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel  in  these  countries,  are  some  fragments 
of  funereal  inscriptions,  which  clearly  bear  the  im- 
press of  the  new  faith.  The  Roman  armies,  which 
constantly  passed  through  Helvetia,  included  large 
numbers  of  Christians  in  their  ranks.  These  left 
traces  of  their  transit.  The  famous  legend,  according 
to  which  an  entire  legion,  named  the  Theban  Legion, 
was  put  to  death  in  the  Valais,  for  refusing  to  forsake 
the  standard  of  Christ,  rests  probably-  upon  some 
authentic  facts,  largely  exaggerated  by  the  popular 
imagination.  *  Geneva,  in  the  course  of  the  second 
century,  received  within  its  walls  some  missionaries 
sent  from  the  Church  at  Vienna,  which  was  founded 
in  Southern  Gaul  at  the  same  time  as  the  Church  of 
Lyons.  We  have  no  other  positive  information  as 
to  the  first  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Helvetia. 
The  local  traditions  are  all  of  a  legendary  character. t 

Such  were  the  conquests  of  the  Church  in  the  East 
and  West  during  these  two  centuries.  We  must  now 
follow  her  through  the  sanguinary  conflicts,  at  the  cost 
ot  which  these  triumphs  were  won. 

*  We  shall  allude  again  to  this  in  the  history  of  the  persecutions. 

t  See  "  L'Histoire  ecclesiastique  de  la  Suisse  sous  les  Romains, 
les  Burgondes  et  les  Allemands, '  by  Glepke.  See  also  "  L'Histoire 
des  origines  du  christianisme  Suisse,"  by  Ch.  Dubois,  Neuchatel, 
1859. 


CHAPTER  II. 

GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  PERSECUTIONS  OF  THE 
SECOND  AND  THIRD  CENTURIES. 

Imprisonment,  Trial,  and  Condemnation  of  the  Christians. 

Before  we  begin  to  trace  rapidly  the  history  of  each 
of  the  great  persecutions  which  burst  forth  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  we  shall  do  well  to  form 
a  clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  persecutions  in  general, 
of  the  various  occasions  which  called  them  forth,  of 
the  track  in  which  persecution  moved,  and  of  its 
results  for  good  and  evil  in  the  Church.  By  grouping 
the  scattered  details  which  we  find  in  the  ecclesiastical 
historians  of  the  time,  we  obtain  a  picture  full  of  life 
and  reality  of  the  glorious  endurance  of  the  Christians. 
We  may  thus  follow  them  into  prison  and  into  exile, 
stand  by  them  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Roman 
magistrates,  and  on  the  place  of  torture. 

The  great  persecutions  are  generally  enumerated  as 
ten.  This  is,  however,  an  arbitrary  division,  and  we 
must  be  careful  not  to  take  it  too  literally.  It  has 
arisen  in  part  from  that  desire  to  establish  a  methodical 
regularity  and  a  certain  supposed  order  of  events, 
which  often  does  violence  to  fact.  It  would  be  an 
error  to  assert  that  persecution  burst  forth  only  ten 
times  before  the  Constantine  era.  In  reality  it  never 
ceased ;  checked  at  one  point,  it  only  flamed  forth 
afresh  at    another.      The   most   prosperous   times  had 


68  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

their  martyrs.  It  could  not  be  otherwise.  Chris- 
tianity, until  the  fourth  century,  was  an  unauthorised 
religion,  a  religion  proscribed  and  illegal.  The  decree 
of  Trajan,  reinforced  by  many  others,  was  not  for  a 
single  day  withdrawn.  Persecution  was  therefore 
always  lawful,  and  did  not  need  a  special  permission. 
It  might  become  more  general  and  more  cruel,  ac- 
cording to  the  disposition  of  the  emperors;  but  whether 
they  were  well-affected  or  otherwise  towards  the 
Christians,  persecution  continued  to  form  a  part  of 
the  penal  legislation  of  the  empire,  and  any  popular 
tumult,  or  the  mere  caprice  of  the  proconsul,  sufficed 
to  bring  it  down  in  all  its  violence  upon  a  city  or 
province. 

In  the  detailed  statement  which  we  shall  make  of 
the  mutual  relations  of  the  Church  and  the  empire 
in  the  second  and  third  centuries,  we  shall  carefully 
point  out  the  special  causes  of  the  great  persecutions, 
of  those,  that  is,  in  which  the  initiative  was  taken 
by  the  emperors  themselves.  For  the  present,  it  is 
our  aim  to  bring  out  rather  the  characteristic  features 
which  gave  individuality  to  the  persecutions,  than  to 
study  their  general  and  political  aspect.  We  shall 
see  in  what  manner  a  Christian  could  sustain  the 
sharpness  of  persecution,  whether  decreed  by  the 
emperor  or  bursting  forth  spontaneously.  We  shall 
endeavour  to  follow  the  proceedings  taken  against 
him,  and  to  go  through  all  the  phases  of  his  trial  and 
imprisonment,  even  to  the  sanguinary  close.* 

*  Beside  the  ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  time,  whom  we  carefully 
quote,  we  refer  for  our  authorities  to  the  "  Acta  Martyrum  Sincera, ' 
Ruinard  Edition,  Verona,  173 r.  We  have  made  use  of  this  with 
caution,  only  accepting  those  statements  which  are  confirmed  by 
the  Fathers,  or  which,  recurring  in  all  the  "Acts,"  acquire  a  sort 
of  authenticity. 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  69 

The  position  of  a  Christian  in  the  Roman  empire 
was  always  one  of  peril,  and  whatever  legitimate 
precautions  he  might  take,  it  was  still  difficult  for 
him  to  escape  his  enemies.  His  very  attitude  and 
his  scruples  drew  down  persecution  upon  him ;  it  was 
enough  for  him  to  abstain  from  some  of  the  practices 
of  pagan  life  to  be  at  once  recognised,  and  thus  he 
became  every  hour  his  own  betrayer.  Tertullian,  in 
his  treatise  on  idolatry,  gives  a  faithful  representation 
of  all  the  difficulties  of  the  position  of  a  worshipper  of 
the  true  God  in  the  midst  of  Roman  society.  He 
shows  how  the  whole  life  of  the  Christian  was 
enveloped  in  paganism  as  in  a  close  network  of  mail ; 
how  he  must  break  the  iron  snare  at  every  turn  if  he 
would  walk  faithfully  and  uprightly  with  his  God.  Every 
step  is  therefore  full  of  danger,  every  act  implies  a 
courageous  confession,  every  deviation  from  pagan 
custom  excites  attention  and  stimulates  aversion.  The 
Christian  is  obliged  at  the  outset  to  abandon  all 
branches  of  industry  which  have  any  connection  with 
idolatry,  such  as  the  making  of  idols,  and  the  sale  of 
victims  for  the  idol  sacrifices.  The  maintenance  of  the 
pagan  worship  required  a  large  number  of  workmen,  and 
no  branch  of  labour  was  more  profitable.  How  many 
of  the  converts  among  the  lower  classes  of  society  had 
formerly  thus  made  their  living  !  No  hesitation  was 
suffered  in  the  matter;  a  vocation  wrong  in  itself  must 
be  at  once  forsaken  ;  and  yet  by  suddenly  abandoning 
it,  the  man  exposed  himself  to  public  prosecution.*  In 
all  probability  some  former  comrade  would  be  found 
ready  to  denounce  him. 

Numberless  other  incidents  of  daily  life  could  hardly 
fail  to  betray  the  Christian,  even  should  he  have  been 
*  Tertullian,  "  De  Idolatria,"  IV.  VII. 


70  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

less  associated,  than  in  the  case  just  supposed,  with 
pagan  practices  previous  to  his  conversion.  What 
bitter  enmities  must  he  not  arouse  in  order  (to  use  the 
eloquent  words  of  Tertullian)  to  avoid  the  breath  of 
that  plague  present  in  the  whole  series  of  superstitious 
observances  dedicated  to  the  gods,  or  to  the  dead,  or 
to  kings.*  Paganism  has  its  feasts  in  great  number, 
every  god  has  his  own  festival.  These  serve  as 
measures  of  time,  and,  in  a  manner,  mark  out  the  year, 
by  their  sacred  anniversaries.  What  can  the  Christian 
do  in  these  cherished  popular  solemnities  ?  Shall  he 
celebrate  the  calends  of  the  year,  or  shall  he,  following 
the  counsel  of  the  stern  Carthaginian,  weep  when  the 
age  rejoices,  that  he  may  rejoice  when  the  age  weeps  ?t 
If  he  hold  himself  aloof  from  the  general  gladness,  his 
silent  protest  will  be  well  understood,  and  will  irritate 
popular  prejudice.  Often  the  fanatic  multitude  will 
seek  to  compel  the  Christian  to  take  part  by  an  act 
of  idolatry  in  these  public  solemnities.  Thus  St. 
Symphorian  was  thrown  into  prison  for  refusing  to 
worship  the  statue  of  a  goddess  carried  in  triumph  by 
a  numerous  procession  in  the  country  of  the  Eduans.| 
The  most  simple  social  relations  were  prolific  sources 
of  conflict  between  the  old  and  new  faiths.  The  pagans 
were  accustomed  to  invite  each  other  to  the  sacrifices. 
A  converted  pagan  frequently  received  such  invitations. 
He  was  bound  to  refuse,  but  such  a  refusal  was  taken 
as  a  provocation.     The  position  of  a  Christian   slave 

*  "  Omnem  afilatum  pcstis  in  universa  serie  humans  super- 
stitionis,  sivc  deis,  sive  defunctis,  sive  regibus  mancipatae."  (Ter- 
tullian, '•  Dc  Idolatria,"  XIII.) 

■■  Saeculo  gaudente  lugeamus  et  saeculo  postea  lugente  gaude- 
bimus "     (Ibid.) 

|  "  Publicae  seditionis  obtentu  comprehensus."  ("  Acta  Mar- 
tyrum,"  p.  69.) 


BOOK    I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  71 

or  freed  man,  whose  duties  bound  him  to  a  pagan 
master,  was  still  more  difficult.  Any  measures  were 
lawful  against  him,  and  many  of  the  acts  commanded 
by  his  master  were  forbidden  by  his  God.  Hence  arose 
incessant  perils,  and  there  hung  over  the  Christian  the 
ever-impending  threat  of  death.*  The  common  speech 
was  deeply  tainted  with  paganism.  The  forms  of 
taking  an  oath  and  of  giving  evidence  all  acknowledged 
the  gods.  Thus  the  Christian  was  bound  to  mark 
his  separateness  from  those  around  him  on  all  occa- 
sions, even  in  the  course  of  common  conversation. 
At  the  festal  table  he  must  keep  a  strict  watch  over 
his  lips,  lest  by  any  long-wonted  exclamation,  such  as 
"  By  Hercules,"  he  should  acknowledge  the  false  gods. 
He  would  be  constrained  many  a  time  to  make  the 
protest  of  a  stern  silence,  and  thus  to  come  perpetually 
into  collision  with  the  inveterate  prejudices  of  his 
host  or  former  friends. t  This  obligation,  under  which 
the  Christians  lay,  to  break  with  pagan  customs,  kept 
up  a  constant  dull  irritation ;  it  was  a  permanent  chal- 
lenge repeated  on  every  occasion. 

Family  relations  were  not  without  danger.  The 
Christian  woman  had  much  to  suffer  from  her  husband, 
when  he  had  not  embraced  her  faith.  How  could  she 
attend  in  peace  to  her  religious  duties,  when  she  was 
dependent  on  a  master  who  was  often  a  vile  despot  ? 
How  could  she  go  in  the  evening  to  the  meeting  for 
worship,  without  exciting  suspicions  ?  How  could  she 
show  hospitality  to  strangers,  brethren  in  the  faith  ? 
how  visit  the  martyrs  in  their  prisons  ?  J     The  Chris- 

*  Tertullian,  "  Dc  Idolatria,"  XVI.  XVII. 

t  "  Caeterum  consuetudinis  vitium  est  Mehercule  dicere."  (Ter- 
tullian, "  De  Idolatria,''  XX.) 

X  Tertullian,  "Ad  uxorem,"  II.  4. 


7Z  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tian  wife  was  anxious  to  elevate  and  purify  conjugal 
union,  so  debased  by  pagan  abominations.  Her  chastity 
was  an  offence  and  an  insult  in  the  eyes  of  her  husband  ; 
and  if  she  would  escape  infamy,  she  must  be  prepared  for 
death.  Justin,  in  his  first  "Apology,"  relates  a  cir- 
cumstance, which  occurred  in  his  day,  and  which 
reveals  all  the  sufferings  and  dangers  of  a  mixed 
marriage  at  that  time.  A  woman,  formerly  a  pagan, 
desired,  after  her  conversion,  to  renounce  all  the  shame 
of  her  former  life.  She  endeavoured  to  win  over  her 
husband  to  her  pious  design.  Her  frequent  exhorta- 
tions were  vain.  Feeling  it  an  impiety  to  live  longer 
in  such  impure  associations,  she  determined,  when  she 
was  convinced  that  there  was  no  hope  of  any  change 
for  the  better,  to  separate  from  him.  In  his  revenge, 
the  husband  denounced  her  as  a  Christian,  and  had 
her  cast  into  prison.* 

If  private  life  had  its  perils,  public  life  was  yet  more 
dangerous.  It  was  almost  impossible  for  a  Christian 
to  fulfil  any  public  duty,  to  be  a  magistrate  or  an  officer 
in  the  army.  This  barrier  subsisted  even  in  the  case  of 
those  who  did  not  belong  to  the  most  rigid  party — 
that  which  proscribed  absolutely  any  contact  with  the 
world,  and  sought  to  turn  the  whole  Church  into  a 
monastery.  Believers  of  a  broad  and  tolerant  spirit, 
who  would  have  gladly  occupied  the  seat  of  the  judge, 
or  held  the  vine-rod  of  the  centurion's  office,  found 
themselves  embarrassed  at  every  step  by  some  pagan 
practice.  There  was  some  oath  to  take  or  deliver,  or 
it  was  needful  to  burn  incense  before  the  image  of  the 
emperor.  The  customs  of  military  service  daily  put 
the  Christian  conscience  to  the  test.     A  warlike  race 

*  Atywv  avrrjv  xPl<JTiav+iv  tlvai.  (Justin  Martyr,  "  First  Apology," 
p.  42.) 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  73 

like  the  Romans  were  especially  anxious  to   conciliate 
the  gods  who  presided  over  battle. 

In  war,  sacrifices  were  continually  offered  with  a  view 
to  secure  the  most  powerful  protection.  Victory  was 
celebrated  by  idolatrous  rites.  Nowhere  was  the 
emperor  the  object  of  more  adoration  than  in  the  camps, 
which  were  nevertheless  ever  rife  with  peril  and  mutiny. 
The  soldiers,  who  chose  to  bend  the  knee  one  day  before 
the  god  they  themselves  had  placed  on  the  throne  or 
on  the  altar,  were  no  less  ready  the  next  to  dash  their 
idol  to  the  ground,  and  set  up  another  in  his  place. 
These  pagan  practices,  the  iniquitous  orders  issued  to 
armies,  which  were  frequently  employed  as  the  instru- 
ments of  persecution,  the  immoralities  ever  prevalent 
in  military  life,  the  inevitable  publicity  of  life  in  tents, 
which  rendered  the  secret  observance  of  a  proscribed 
worship  nearly  an  impossibility — all  these  causes  in 
combination  made  the  position  of  a  Christian  soldier 
almost  intolerable.  He  drew  all  eyes  upon  himself  at 
a  time  when,  for  him  to  be  known,  was  to  be  doomed. 
In  vain  might  he  display  heroic  courage  in  fight,  and 
unshaken  fidelity  as  a  soldier  of  his  country.  This  very 
fidelity,  in  the  changing  fortunes  of  the  empire,  was  an 
element  of  peril.  It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the 
Roman  armies  should  have  furnished  a  large  contingent 
to  the  host  of  the  martyrs.  That  Christian  soldier,  of 
whom  Eusebius  speaks,  who,  when  summoned  to  offer 
sacrifice  to  the  gods  on  being  appointed  centurion,  nobly 
renounced  at  once  honour  and  life,  shows,  by  a  living 
example,  how  incompatible  was  the  profession  of  the 
faith  with  the  military  career.  The  bishop  of  the 
Church,  to  which  this  courageous  confessor  belonged, 
placed  before  him  the  Holy  Scriptures  on  the  one  side, 
and  a  sword  on  the  other,  bidding  him  make  his  choice. 

6 


74  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

He  renounced  the  sword,  though  he  knew  well  that  by 
so  doing  he  plunged  it  into  his  own  heart.*  This 
necessity  of  choosing  between  the  Gospel  and  the  sword, 
was  often  laid  upon  the  Christians,  and  was  not  the 
least  of  their  temptations  and  perils. 

We  have  already  more  than  once  alluded  to  the 
shameless  idolatry  which,  in  these  days  of  universal 
degradation,  was  more  and  more  generally  offered  to 
the  emperor.  The  Christian  could  not,  in  any  way, 
connive  at  these  practices.  Fully  ready  as  he  was  to 
submit  to  human  authority,  because  he  recognised  in  it 
the  presence  of  a  higher  law,  he  could  not  prostrate 
himself  before  a  fellow  man,  without  renouncing  his 
faith  in  the  one  living  and  true  God.  Humility  and 
dignity  were  blended  in  his  character;  the  same  faith 
which  laid  him  low  at  the  feet  of  Christ  kept  him  erect 
before  man.  The  worshipper  of  the  Most  High 
could  not  adore,  as  God,  that  which  was  but  dust  and 
ashes  before  the  Creator.  "'Render  unto  Caesar  the 
things  which  are  Caesar's,'"  says  Tertullian,  "'and  unto 
God  the  things  which  are  God's.'  Such  is  the  teaching 
of  Scripture.  What,  then,  is  due  to  Caesar  ?  The 
matter  in  question,  when  the  words  were  first  spoken, 
was  the  tribute-money.  The  Saviour  therefore  called 
for  a  piece  of  money,  and  asked  what  was  the  image 
graven  on  it  ?  When  the  reply  was  made,  The  image 
is  of  Caesar,  he  rejoined,  '  Render  therefore  unto 
Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  which  are  God's.'  In  other  words,  Caesar's  image 
is  on  the  money,  therefore  the  money  may  be  fairly 
claimed  by  him  ;  God's  image  is  upon  man,  and  He  has 

*  To  Trpocnipri]n'tvoi>  nvrtp  %i<poQ  eiriFuZaQ,  lifxa  re  avTi7rapaTiQT}m 
irpooayayuiv  aiiry  Tt'jvTujv  Qtiwv  eiiayyeXitav  ypacpijv,  KiXtvaaQ  tCjv  SvoTv 
tXiaGai  to  Kara  yv&ptiv.  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  VII.  c.  15.  Com- 
pare VIII.  c.  14.) 


BOOK   L — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  75 

an  equal  claim  upon  His  own.  Give  therefore  your 
money  to  Caesar,  and  yourselves  to  God.  If  all  is 
Caesar's,  what  will  remain  for  God?"*  No  decision 
could  have  been  more  complete  or  clear,  but  none  could 
have  struck  a  severer  blow  at  the  social  constitution  of 
the  whole  ancient  world,  or  thrown  down  a  broader 
challenge  to  the  powers  of  the  age.  It  boldly  contested 
imperial  claims,  and  no  government  is  so  jealous  of  its 
own  unlimited  authority,  as  one  which  knows  it  has  but 
a  short  and  precarious  tenure  of.  power.  The  Roman 
Caesar  demanded  absolute  submission  of  the  reason, 
will,  and  life  from  every  one  of  his  subjects.  All  resis- 
tance was  rebellion,  and  to  dispute  the  divinity  of  the 
emperor  was  the  worst  impiety.  The  Christians 
could  not  but  come  therefore  under  the  condemnation 
of  this  terrible  statute  of  high  treason,  and  torrents  of 
Christian  blood  proved  its  unsparing  vengeance.  The 
"Acts  of  the  Martyrdom"  of  St.  Achates  give  us  a 
vivid  picture  of  a  scene  that  must  have  been  repeated 
many  a  time  in  the  age  of  persecution.  The  proconsul, 
before  whom  the  martyr  was  brought,  addressed  him 
thus  :  "  Thou  art  bound  to  love  our  princes,  as  be- 
comes a  man  who  lives  under  the  Roman  law."t  "  By 
whom,"  replies  the  confessor,  "  is  the  emperor  better 
loved  than  by  the  Christians  ?  We  pray  perpetually 
that  he  may  enjoy  long  life,  an  equitable  government, 
peace  in  his  time,  prosperity  in  his  armies  and  in  the 
world."  "  It  is  well,"  replied  the  magistrate  ;  "  but 
that   thou   mayest  better  show  thine  obedience  to  the 

#  "  Id  est,  imaginem  Caesaris  Caesari,  et  qua:  sunt  Dei  Deo  ;  id  est, 
imaginem  Dei  Deo,  quae  in  h'omine  est,  ut  Caesari  quidem  pecuniara 
reddas,  Deo  temet  ipsum.  Alioquin,  quid  erit  Dei,  si  omnia 
Caesaris?"     (Tertullian,  "  De  Idolatria,"  p.  15.) 

t  "  Debes  amarc  principes  nostros,  homo  Romanis  legibus  vivens." 
("Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  129.) 


76  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

emperor,  sacrifice  with  us  to  his  honour."  "  I  pray  to 
my  God  for  the  emperor,"  answered  the  martyr;  "but 
sacrifice  in  honour  of  him  ought  neither  to  be  demanded 
nor  presented.  How  can  divine  honours  be  accorded 
to  a  man?"*  The  sacrifice,  however,  was  the  stern 
requirement,  and  the  Roman  laws,  to  which  the  pro- 
consul appealed,  exacted  this  homage  from  every 
subject.  To  demand  such  worship  from  a  Christian, 
and  craftily  to  lead  him  on  to  a  formal  refusal  of  it,  was 
to  prepare  his  doom. 

Such  was  the  position  of  a  Christian  at  this  period. 
In  private  and  in  public  life,  in  his  own  house,  or  at 
the  table  of  friends  and  acquaintances,  in  the  camp, 
or  in  the  city,  he  was  encompassed  with  danger.  He 
was  a  victim  devoted  to  the  fury  of  the  populace,  so 
soon  as  any  trivial  circumstance  should  arouse  its 
slumbering  ire. 

There  were  times  when  this  fury  of  the  multitude 
knew  no  bounds ;  on  the  occasion,  for  example,  of  any 
public  calamity.  An  ignorant  and  fanatic  crowd  at 
once  traced  their  misfortune  to  the  new  religion. 
"What  man' is  there,"  wrote  the  Emperor  Maximus, 
"  so  mad  as  not  to  acknowledge  that  it  is  of  the 
goodness  of  the  gods,  if  the  ground  withhold  not  its 
fruits,  if  sacrilegious  war  break  not  forth  suddenly, 
if  a  pestilent  air  slay  not  our  frail  bodies,  if  the  sea 
swell  not  under  tempestuous  winds,  if  the  earth — ■ 
mother  and  nurse  of  every  creature — be  not  upheaved 
from  its  depths  in  terrible  convulsions  ?  None  can 
deny  that  these  calamities,  and  worse  than  these,, 
have  come  to  pass  in  former  times.  All  these  things 
were  caused  by  the  poisonous  errors  and  arrant  folly 
of  these  men,  who  have  been  the  vilest  of  wretches, 

*  -  Quis  enim  sacra  homini  persolvat."     ("  Acta  Martyrum.") 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  77 

from  the  first  moment  when  this  madness  took  root 
among  them  and  began  to  spread,  till  it  has  covered 
with  shame  almost  the  whole  earth."  "  Let  the  Tiber 
overflow  its  banks,"  we  read  in  Tertullian,  "  let  the 
Nile  fail  to  inundate  the  country,  let  the  heavens  be 
of  brass,  let  the  sun  be  darkened,  let  famine  or 
pestilence  visit  the  land,  and  at  once  the  cry  is  raised, 
*  The  Christians  to  the  lions  I '  "  * 

It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  this  popular  fury  to  its 
true  source.  In  every  persecution  raised  against  the 
truth,  we  discover  the  hand  of  a  priest.  The  "Acts  of 
the  Martyrs "  show  us  the  pagan  priests  incessantly 
labouring  by  the  most  unworthy  artifices  to  deceive 
the  people.  Their  lying  oracles  are  made  to  speak 
against  the  religion  of  Christ.  The  priest  creeps  into 
the  palace  of  the  prince  or  of  the  proconsul,  and  too 
often  succeeds  in  making  him  the  instrument  of 
sacerdotal  hatred  and  vengeance.  It  is  easy  to  see  from 
the  captious  questionings  addressed  to  the  accused, 
that  those  consummate  rogues — the  priests — have  been 
prompting  the  magistrate.  There  is  no  spectacle  more 
hideous  than  that  of  brutal  force  thus  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  priestly  cunning.t  It  is  equally  repulsive 
to  all  sense  of  fairness,  to  see  base  personal  jealousies 
wreaking  themselves  through  the  medium  of  persecution. 
The  philosopher  Crescens  having  been  vanquished  in 
public  discussion  by  Justin  Martyr,  revenged  himself 
by  a  cowardly  denunciation  of  his  opponent,  and  thus 
sought  to  stifle  in  blood  the  voice  which  he  could  not 
silence  by  argument.  X     An   unknown  poet,  who  lived 

*  "  Si  fames,  si  lues,  statim  :  Chi'istianos  ad  Iconem"  (Tertul- 
lian, "  ApoL,"  c.  xi.i 

■f  See  the  martyrdom  of  Saint  Saturnin,  and  that  of  Symphorosa 
and  his  sons.     ("Acta  Marty  rum,"  pp.  20-22,  110.) 

%  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  IV.  c.  16. 


78  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

by  his  religious  reputation,  and  probably  found  a  good 
market  for  his  pagan  rhapsodies,  was  the  instigator  of 
the  persecution  in  the  metropolis  of  ancient  Egypt  in 
the  time  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.* 

Let  us  now  transport  ourselves  in  thought  to  some 
city  of  Africa,  Asia  Minor,  or  Italy,  at  the  moment 
when  persecution  is  declared.  The  Christians,  who 
during  the  time  of  respite  had  shared  in  the  common  life 
of  the  people,  and  transacted  their  business  in  the  Agora, 
now  take  the  utmost  precautions  to  escape  malicious 
observation  and  false  accusation.  They  are  scarcely 
permitted  to  show  themselves  in  any  public  place. 
"We  are  not  only  banished,"  write  the  Christians 
of  Lyons,  "from  the  baths  and  the  Forum,  but  we 
are  forbidden  to  appear  in  any  public  place  what- 
ever." t  This  is  the  reign  of  terror  in  the  Church. 
No  retreat,  however  secluded,  can  save  the  persecuted 
from  their  fierce  pursuers.  In  this  drama  of  persecu- 
tion, the  principal  actor,  the  one  who  fills  the  whole 
scene,  who  issues  imperious  commands,  and  obtains 
anything  at  pleasure  from  the  weakness  or  connivance 
of  the  magistrates,  is  the  mob.  We  know  to  what  a 
dangerous  extent  mob-rule  could  prevail  under  imperial 
Rome.  The  masses  are  never  more  powerful  than 
when  liberty  is  unrecognised,  and  the  intelligent  classes 
of  a  nation  are  deprived  of  their  rights.  A  tyrannical 
power,  when  it  can  find  no  support  among  the  higher 
strata  of  society,  seeks  it  in  the  lower,  and  thus  builds 
upon  a  foundation  shifting  as  the  sand,  and  as  ready 
to  be  whirled  hither  and  thither  by  the  first  breath 
of   a  new  impulse.      A  despot  only  reigns'  by  serving 

*  Kai  cpOacra^  o  kcikCjv  ry  woXei  tcivt-q  fidvrig  Kal   iroirjTrje  tKivi]<rt  KaO' 
yfiutv  to.  -KXifir]  tCjv  WvCjv.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  VI.  c.  41.) 
f  Eusebius,  "  H.  E."  Bk.  V.  c.  1. 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  79 

not  the  true  interests,  but  the  passions  of  the  people ; 
tyranny  is  always  the  expression  of  a  twofold  mean- 
ness, that  of  the  master  who  flatters  the  slave,  and 
that  of  the  slave  who  sells  himself  to  the  master. 
Hence  the  rule  of  the  Roman  emperor  was  at  once 
the  rule  of  despots  and  of  the  mob.  Not  content 
with  the  bread  thrown  to  them,  and  the  circus  pro- 
vided for  their  amusement,  the  populace  clamoured 
for  the  torture  of  the  Christians,  and,  grown  weary  of 
the  old  cry,  "  Pancm  et  circenses !  "  it  added  this  new 
and  terrible  cry,  "  Christianus  ad  Icononl"  Persecution 
was  in  its  commencement  a  popular  tumult.  The 
excited  crowds  often  burst  into  the  dwellings  of  the 
Christians,  as  in  the  persecution  which  took  place  in 
the  time  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  That  Father 
says:  "We  saw  the  people  suddenly  burst  into  our 
dwellings  as  if  by  one  common  impulse.  Every 
one  entered  some  house  that  was  known  to  him,  and 
began  to  spoil  and  destroy.  All  objects  of  value  were 
seized ;  things  not  worth  carrying  away,  such  as 
wooden  furniture,  were  burnt  on  the  highway.  The 
scene  was  that  of  a  town  taken  by  assault."  *  The 
same  crowrd  follows  the  Christians  before  the  tribunal, 
and  interferes  in  the  process  of  inquiry.  When  the 
Christians  of  Lyons  were  brought  into  the  Forum  by 
the  tribune  of  the  soldiers  and  the  magistrates  of  the 
city,  they  were  questioned  and  compelled  to  reply 
before  the  whole  multitude,  which  had  clamoured  for 
their  trial. t  We  read  in  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs  :  " 
"  Hardly  had  the  judge  taken  his  seat,  when  the  hall 
of  judgment  resounded  with    the  furious  cries  of  the 

*  Ei6>'  op.oQvficilbv  u7rai>Tts  uip/Jtjcrav  iiri  Tag  tCov  6io<rtj3u)i>  oticLas. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  VI.  c.  41.) 

t  'E77-J  iravrbg  tov  ir\i)Qovg  avuKpiQevreg  kclL  uj-ioXoyi'iaavres.  (Euse- 
bius,  "H.  E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  I.) 


oO  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

populace,  raised  against  the  innocent."*  More  than 
once,  sentence  was  pronounced  by  the  crowd,  and 
only  ratified  by  the  magistrate.  This  was  the  case  at 
the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp.  "  All  present  lifted  their 
voices  with  one  accord,  demanding  that  he  should  be 
burned  alive.  The  execution  followed  almost  close 
upon  the  sentence.  The  wood  for  the  stake,  torn  in 
an  instant  from  the  shops  and  baths,  was  carried  to 
the  fatal  spot  by  eager  hands."  t  The  crowd  con- 
stituted itself  the  sole  executive  in  the  condemnation 
of  the  Christians  ;  it  carried  through  the  whole  process, 
from  the  part  of  the  officer  who  arrests  the  accused, 
to  that  of  the  executioner  who  makes  him  a  victim, 
while  his  voice  is  drowned  in  furious  outcries.  Then 
it  might  seem  that  its  task  was  done,  and  that  the 
deepest  malice  might  rest  satisfied.  But  no  ;  once 
more  it  flung  itself  upon  the  body  of  the  victim,  and  in 
repeated  instances  the  very  ashes  were  cast  into  the 
river,  that  every  trace  might  be  obliterated,  and  the 
work  of  destruction  be  complete. X  But  we  will  not 
anticipate  the  story  of  Christian  heroism ;  and  having 
thus  indicated  the  part  taken  by  the  populace  in  the 
condemnation  of  the  confessors,  we  will  follow  the  trial 
through  its  various  phases. 

More  than  once,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  sentence  was 
summarily  carried  out,  and  the  accused  was  tried  and 
put  to  death  on  the  same  day.  But,  ordinarily,  some 
time  elapsed  between  the  incarceration  and  the  end. 
We  have  shown,  in  speaking  of  the  captivity  of  St. 
Paul,  that  the  severity  of  imprisonment  might  be  con- 

*  "Accenditur  judex  et  popularis  conclamatio  attollitur  et  in 
innocentes  simul  omnium  insania  consurgit." 

t  Tavra  ovv  fitra  tocovtov  tuxov,  iykviro  Quttqv  r/  IXiytro.  (Euse- 
bius,  "H.  E.,"  Bk   IV.  c.  15.) 

X  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  1. 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN   PERSECUTIONS.  8l 

siderably  aggravated  or  relaxed  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  offence  charged.  The  Christians  evidently 
underwent  the  severest  form  of  treatment  as  guilty 
of  a  capital  crime.  Pagan  society,  which  had  no 
compassion  for  weakness  and  misfortune,  which  had  an 
ear  only  for  the  voice  of  influence  and  wealth,  treated 
its  prisoners  as  it  treated  its  women,  slaves,  and  chil- 
dren. It  had  no  respect  for  human  nature  in  itself, 
but  regarded  only  the  outward  distinctions,  which 
are  the  accidents,  not  the  true  dignity  of  life.  The 
prisoner  who  had  no  powerful  friends  to  avenge  his 
wrongs  or  exert  themselves  in  his  behalf,  was  thrown 
into  a  horrible  dungeon,  often  like  the  Mamertine 
prison,  deep  down  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  where 
light  and  air  could  scarcely  enter.*  There  he  was 
bound  in  fetters, t  miserably  fed,  often  famished.  The 
martyrs  of  Carthage  thus  describe  their  sufferings : 
"  Doomed  to  die  of  hunger  and  thirst,  we  have  been  cast 
into  two  dungeons,  where  our  life  is  consumed  away. 
The  stifling  heat,  caused  by  the  numbers  crowded 
together,  is  intolerable.  Eight  days  have  passed 
since  this  letter  was  begun.  During  the  first  five  days 
only  bread  and  water  were  doled  out  to  us."|  The 
Church  did  all  in  its  power  to  soften  such  captivity. 
Its  attempts  were  more  successful  than  might  have 
been  supposed,  owing  to  the  venality  of  the  gaolers, 
whose  connivance  was  bought  with  bribes.  It  may 
also  be  supposed  that  the  magistrates  hoped  the  resis- 

*  "  Career  habet  tenebras,  triste  illic  exspirat."  (Tertullian, 
"  Acta  Martyrum,"  c.  ii.) 

f  "  Habet  vincula."     (Ibid.) 

X  "  Cum  jussi  sumus  secundum  prseceptum  Imperatoris  fame  et 
siti  necari  et  reclusi  sumus  in  duabus  cellis,  ita  ut  nos  afficerent 
fame  et  siti ;  sed  et  ignis  ab  opere  pressurae  nostrae  tarn  intolerabilis 
erat,  quam  nemo  portare  possit."     (Cyprian,  Epist.  xxii.  2.) 


82  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tance  of  the  prisoners  might  be  overcome  by  the  tender 
urgency  of  their  acquaintance  and  friends,  and  thus 
winked  at  their  admission.  Immense  sums  were  col- 
lected to  procure  help  for  the  sufferers.  "As  to  the 
succour  given  to  those  who,  having  nobly  confessed  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  are  cast  into  prison,"  writes  Cyprian, 
"  I  enjoin  that  nothing  may  be  neglected ;  for  the 
whole  sum  named  has  been  distributed  among  the 
clergy  for  that  purpose."*  Occasionally  the  strange 
sight  might  be  seen  of  a  love-feast  celebrated  beneath 
the  dark  vaults  of  the  prison ;  every  word  of  the 
martyrs  was  eagerly  treasured  up ;  the  Christians 
were  never  weary  of  gazing  on  them.  So  great  was 
the  desire  to  visit  them,  that  the  most  simple  pre- 
cautions were  forgotten.  Their  friends  besieged  the 
door  of  the  prison  in  crowds,  instead  of  repairing 
to  it  secretly,  and  one  by  one,  as  prudence  would  have 
suggested,  t 

Captivity,  so  far  from  crushing  the  courage  of  the 
Christians,  had  usually  the  effect  of  stimulating  it. 
The  honour  of  suffering  for  the  noblest  of  causes,  the 
lively  realisation  of  that  Divine  support  promised  to 
all  who  are  persecuted  for  the  truth,  the  universal 
sympathy  of  the  Church,  the  contrast  between  the 
horrors  of  the  dungeon  and  the  enthusiastic  joy  filling 
the  heart  of  the  captives,  all  contributed  to  raise  the 
martyr  Christians  above  themselves.  They  lived 
almost  in  a  state  of  ecstasy.  They  had  glorious  visions, 
which  made  them  forget  their  bonds  and  captivity ; 
and,  like  the  dying  Stephen,  they  saw  the  dark  clouds 
above  their  heads  parting  to  reveal  an  open  heaven, 
and   palms    and   crowns   of   life  waiting   for   the  con- 

*  Cyprian,  Epist.  v.  2. 

t  "  Caute  et  non  glomcratim  nee  per  multitudinum."     (Ibid  ) 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  83 

querors.  The  themes  of  their  constant  meditation 
became  embodied,  as  it  were,  in  dreams,  which  showed 
them  all  the  promises  of  faith  already  realised  in 
anticipation.  Accounts  of  dreams  and  visions  abound 
in  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs;"  they  are  indicative 
of  the  legitimate  exaltation  of  soul  produced  among 
the  Christians  by  a  captivity,  which  was  like  the  solemn 
watch  of  an  army  on  the  eve  of  the  final  conflict.  The 
martyr  had  ever  before  his  eyes  the  bloody  battle  which 
he  was  soon  to  fight,  and  all  the  perils  and  temptations 
which  he  would  have  to  encounter.  Perpetua  sees 
rising  before  her  a  great  ladder  of  gold,  reaching  from 
earth  to  heaven.  On  each  side  are  instruments  of 
torture,  and  a  terrible  dragon  guards  the  first  steps 
of  the  ascent.  The  young  martyr  crushes  the  dragon's 
head,  and  runs  up  all  the  rounds  of  the  ladder,  till  she 
stands  on  the  highest.*  There  the  Good  Shepherd 
awaits  her.  He  is  tall  in  stature,  and  full  of  tender- 
ness for  His  sheep. t  He  leads  them  into  a  wonderful 
garden,  which  is  like  a  second  Eden.  In  another  dream, 
the  young  Christian  confessor  fancies  herself  already 
in  -the  midst  of  the  amphitheatre,  combating  with  ttie 
devil,  who  has  taken  the  form  of  an  Egyptian,  and  at 
length  receiving  the  palm  of  victory.  Another  martyr 
sees  in  his  sleep  a  pagan  coming  to  him,  and  declaring 
that  if  he  does  not  deny  the  faith,  he  will  inevitably 
perish.  "We  are  ready  to  endure  all  things,"  replies 
the  prisoner.  "The  greater  the  suffering  the  more 
glorious  the  victory."^;  On  awaking,  he  feels  his 
strength  renewed  by  this  confirmation  of  his  earnest 
expectation  and  hope.     Most  frequently  the  prisoners 

*  "Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  82-85.     f  "  Grandem,  oves  mulgentem." 
X  "  At    ego     confirmare    votum    meum    volui.     Vere    inquam, 
patiemur  omnes."     ("  Acta  Martyrum/'  p.  198.) 


84  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

are  visited  in  their  visions  by  their  brethren  who  have 
already  fought  the  good  fight  and  received  the  crown. 
Perpetua  sees  the  deacon  Pomponius,  but  lately 
glorified,  draw  near  to  her  prison-door  to  say  to  her : 
"  Come,  we  are  waiting  for  thee."*  "  He  took  me  by 
the  hand,"  she  adds,  "  and  we  began  to  ascend  together 
by  steep  and  tortuous  paths."  Saturus,  in  his  dream, 
is  carried  by  four  angels,  who  put  on  him  a  white  robe, 
and  bring  him  into  the  midst  of  all  the  martyrs  whom 
he  knew  when  on  earth.  "We  saw,"  he  says,  "a  great 
light,  and  heard  a  voice  crying,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy. 
Brought  to  the  foot  of  the  throne  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  we 
were  gathered  to  His  embrace. "t  We  can  well  imagine 
how  visions  such  as  these  would  feed  the  courage  of  the 
Christians.  The  great  pastors  of  the  Church  who, 
like  Cyprian,  had  suffered  martyrdom,  often  appear  to 
the  captives  in  their  visions.^  Thus  the  horrible  pit 
is  changed  into  the  gate  of  heaven ;  and,  according  to 
the  poetical  expression  of  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs," 
the  joy  of  the  Lord  breaks  forth  in  singing  from  the 
gloomy  dungeon,  and  the  crown  blossoms  on  the 
th*orns.§ 

Tortures  are  more  easy  to  be  borne  than  the  agonised 
entreaties  of  beloved  voices;  but  this  last  ordeal  was 
often  a  part  of  the  captive  Christian's  lot.  Origen  de- 
clares that  martyrdom  has  not  reached  its  acme  of 
anguish,  except  when  the  tender  prayers  of  parents 
have  been  added  to  the  violence  of  the  gaolers,  to  shake 
the  constancy  of  the  prisoner.  "If,  throughout  the 
whole  time  of  trial,  we  will  give  no  place  in  our  hearts 

*  "  Perpetua,  te  espectamus,  veni."  ("Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  84.) 
t  "Vidimus   lucem   immensam   et   audivimus   vocem  :     Agios, 

agios,  osculati  sumus."     (Ibid.)  J  Ibid.,  p.  196-203. 

^  "  Educitur  de    carcere   lugubri    gaudium  cceli,  de  spinarum 

germine  flos  coronas." 


BOOK    I. — PAGAN   PERSECUTIONS.  85 

to  the  devil,  who  seeks  to  defile  us  by  evil  thoughts  of 
hesitation  or  denial ;  if  we  endure  all  the  reproaches, 
all  the  outrages  of  our  adversaries,  and  their  mockery, 
and  their  slanders,  and  the  contemptuous  pity  of  our 
neighbours,  who  call  us  fools  and  madmen;  and 
beyond  all  this,  if  the  love  of  wife  and  of  children, 
or  attachment  to  that  which  has  been  our  most 
cherished  earthly  treasure,  fails  to  draw  us  back  to  life 
and  its  endearments  ;  if,  still  forsaking  all  earthly  good, 
we  give  ourselves  wholly  to  God  and  to  the  life  which 
comes  from  Him  ....  then  we  have  filled  up  the 
measure  of  martyrdom."  * 

Family  affections  proved  in  more  than  one  instance 
the  most  terrible  of  all  temptations  to  the  Christian 
captives.  A  frail  woman  like  Perpetua  had  to  resist  at 
once  the  appeal  of  the  tears  and  hoary  hairs  of  her  aged 
father,  and  the  wailings  of  her  new-born  child. t 
Irenaeus,  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  at  the  moment  of  an 
agonising  separation,  had  to  turn  away  from  the  tears 
of  those  most  dear  to  him.  "  His  parents  lamented  over 
him  with  groans  and  bitter  weeping;  his  servants 
and  his  neighbours  were  all  filled  with  sorrow  at  his 
departure,  and  his  friends  implored  him  with  many 
entreaties  to  have  pity  on  his  youth. "J  The  magistrates 
who  deemed  it  an  honour  to  bring  about  the  apostasy 
of  the  Christians,  favoured  these  sorrowful  meetings. 
They  would  rend  without  pity  the  tenderest  ties  of 
kindred  or  friendship  ;  but  when  they  judged  that   a 

*  Et  [xi]  7repu\Kolfis9a  Trepioaunevoi  Kal  virb  tijq  iripi  ra  TSKva  tf  icai 
tovtujv  fXTjrepa  (piXoaropyiac,  o\oi  ycvolp.t9a  rov  Otov,  tot  ilv  sliroifiev  oti 
e7r\r)pu)GaixEv  to  fispog  ti)q  dfioXoyiag.  (Origen,  "  Ad  Martyr.,'1  c.  xi.) 
-f-  "  Miserere  patris."  ("Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  82.) 
I  "  Parentum  vero  omnium  luctus  et  fletus  erat  super  eum, 
domesticorum  genitus,  vicinorum  ululatus  et  lamentatio  amicorum 
qui  omnes  clamantes  ad  eum  dicebant  :  Tcnerae  adolescenticc  tuse 
miserere."     (Ibid.,  p.  357.) 


86  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

renewal  of  affectionate  intercourse  might  incline  to 
recantation,  they  gave  free  access  to  the  pagan  father 
or  husband,  who  came  to  plead  with  the  captive  the 
arguments  of  a  blind  affection.  Perpetua  was  kept  apart 
from  her  husband  because  he  shared  her  faith  ;  but  her 
father  was  permitted  to  renew,  as  often  as  he  chose, 
his  piteous  entreaties  with  her  to  draw  back.  The 
Christians  of  those  days  were  called  to  give  an 
eloquent  living  commentary  on  the  solemn  words  of 
the  Master  :  "  If  any  man  come  unto  me,  and  hate 
not  father  and  mother,  wife  and  children,  brethren 
and  sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot 
be  my  disciple."  We  can  see  from  the  greatness 
of  their  anguish  that  the  hating,  in  the  sense  of  this 
commandment,  is  compatible  with  a  depth  of  love. 
This  was  undoubtedly  the  most  bitter  drop  in  the  cup 
of  martyrdom. 

These  rendings  of  the  tenderest  ties  of  nature,  joined 
to  the  natural  dread  of  torture,  could  scarcely  fail  to 
shake  the  resolution  of  unstable  Christians.  Weak- 
ness and  indomitable  strength  were  alike  revealed  when 
the  trying  day  came  to  declare  them.  We  must  now 
follow  the  accused  before  the  judgment-seat.  The 
magistrates  used  every  means  in  their  power  to  find 
them  guilty.  They  even  subjected  slaves  to  torture,  to 
wring  from  them  depositions  against  their  Christian 
masters.*  As  soon  as  the  prisoners  entered  the  Forum, 
they  were  surrounded  by  a  fanatic  mob,  ever  ready  to 
drown  their  voices  in  a  clamour  for  their  death.  Often 
they  could  distinguish,  in  the  midst  of  the  excited  crowd, 
the  sorrowful  group  of  their  relations  and  friends. 
Here  and  there,  their  eyes  met  kind  faces,  which  gave 

*  Eic  fiaaavovQ  tiXtcvaav  oltcerag  tu>v  i)f.isTtpu)V.  (Justin,  "  Apol.," 
Vol.  I.  p.  50.) 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  8j 

a  glance  of  encouraging  approval  in  the  midst  of  the 
stormy  reprobation  of  the  rest.*  The  inquiry  com- 
mences. It  is  conducted  in  violation  of  all  good  faith 
and  fairness.  While  every  ordinary  prisoner  has  the 
right  of  self-defence,  and  may  even  engage  an  advocate 
to  plead  his  cause,  the  Christian  is  neither  allowed  to 
present  his  own  apology,  nor  to  call  in  the  aid  of  a  more 
eloquent  pleader  than  himself,  t  The  one  leading  ques- 
tion is  this  :  Art  thou  a  Christian  ?  If  the  reply  is  in 
the  affirmative,  no  further  inquiry  is  needed ;  the  crime 
is  proved ;  condemnation  will  follow.  That  name 
alone  carries  within  it  the  confession  of  gravest  crimes, 
and  is  sufficient  to  bring  down  upon  him  who  answers 
to  it,  odious  suspicions  of  infamy,  sacrilege,  and  re- 
bellion. The  charge  brought  against  the  Christians  is 
nowhere  formally  stated  ;  it  is  a  floating  suspicion,  as 
it  were,  finding  its  most  forcible  expression  in  the  ex- 
cited, fanatic  crowd  which  throngs  the  Forum.  It  is  an 
indictment  brought  forward  anonymously,  and  its  accu- 
sations are  all  the  more  terrible,  because  so  indefinite 
that  they  cannot  be  refuted.  "  In  the  case  of  any 
other  criminal,"  writes  Tertullian,  "  it  is  not  enough 
that  he  declare  himself  to  be  a  homicide,  sacrilegious, 
incestuous,  an  enemy  of  the  state.  Before  you  give 
sentence,  O  judges,  you  inquire  rigorously  into  the 
circumstances,  the  quality  of  the  deed,  the  place,  time, 
manner  of  its  commission,  the  witnesses  and  accom- 
plices. But  in  the  trial  of  the  Christians  all  this  is 
dispensed  with. "J  To  own  to  the  name  of  Christian, 
was  for  the  accused  by  implication  to  confess  himself 
guilty  of  every  crime.     No  investigation  was  necessary. 

*  "Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  186. 

-f-  "  Christianis  solis  nihil  permittitur  loqui  quod  causam  purget." 
(Tertullian,  "ApoL,"  c.  ii.J  |   Ibid. 


SS  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

"  Public  hatred  asks  but  one  thing,  and  that,  not  in- 
vestigation into  the  crimes  charged,  but  simply  the 
confession  of  the  Christian  name."*  The  accused  who 
will  cleave  to  the  faith,  has  only  one  reply  to  make, 
that  which  during  three  centuries  never  ceased  to  be 
heard  in  the  forums  of  the  empire,  that  which  Cor- 
nelius put  into  the  mouth  of  Polyeuctes,  and  which 
re-appears  on  every  page  of  the  "  Acts  of  the  Martyrs  :" 
/  am  a  Christian !  (Christianus  sum.)  Noble  reply,  coming 
as  it  did  from  the  lips  of  those  who  knew  so  well  the 
popular  outcry  that  would  inevitably  follow :  Death  to 
the  Christian!  Full  of  sublime  calmness,  writh  that 
heavenly  brightness  upon  the  brow  which  made  the 
face  of  Stephen  as  the  face  of  an  angel,  and  which  is 
ever  the  martyr's  aureole,  the  accused  has  but  this  one 
reply  to  all  his  questioners :  I  am  a  Christian !  He 
has  little  to  say  about  his  worldly  position,  for  earthly 
possessions  are  of  small  account  in  his  eyes  ;  even  to 
the  inquiry  whether  'he  is  a  slave,  or  free,  he  scarcely 
cares  to  answer.  "  What  is  thy  condition  ?  "  said  the 
judge  to  Saint  Maximus.  "  I  am  a  free  man,  but  the 
slave  of  Christ. "t  This  scorn  for  all  the  lower  dis- 
tinctions, so  much  accounted  of  by  the  world,  is  an 
unfailing  characteristic  of  the  Christians  of  that  age, 
and  we  find  the  traces  of  it  in  the  inscriptions  on  the 
catacombs,  which,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  pass 
over  in  complete  silence  the  worldly  condition  of  the 
departed.;}; 

*  "  Sed  illud  solum  expectatur  quod  odio  publico  necessarium 
est,  confessio  nominis,  non  examinatio  criminis."  (Tertullian, 
"  Apol.,"  c.  ii.) 

f  "  Cujus  conditionis  es?"  "  Ingenuus  natus,  servus  vero 
Christi."     ("  Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  133.) 

*  See  on  this  point  the  very  conclusive  observation  of  M.  E. 
Blanc,  in  his  book,  "  Les  inscriptions  chretiennes  de  la  Gaule." 
Vol.  I.  p.  85-118,  175. 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  89 

Having  received  the  confession  of  the  crime,  the 
proconsul,  without  allowing  the  prisoner  any  oppor- 
tunity for  fair  defence,  and  refusing  positively  to  hear 
any  apology  for  the  proscribed  religion,  nevertheless 
endeavours  to  shake  the  constancy  of  the  accused.  He 
himself  becomes  his  advocate,  or,  to  speak  more  truly, 
his  tempter.  He  sets  before  the  prisoner  the  peril  to 
which  he  will  be  exposed,  the  certainty  of  a  terrible 
death  awaiting  him  if  he  perseveres.  Often  he  artfully 
depicts  the  absurdity  of  the  attitude  of  the  accused  in 
the  eyes  of  his  countrymen  and  contemporaries.  The 
proconsul  said  to  the  martyr  Epipodius  :  "  We  worship 
the  immortal  gods,  who  are  adored  by  the  whole  world, 
and  venerated  by  the  most  noble  princes."*  The  wisdom 
of  the  old  world  had  long  ago  given  expression  to  the 
same  idea  in  a  short  saying  of  cowardly  prudence  : 
Vce  soli !  Woe  to  him  who  is  alone,  had  been  said 
before  Christ  came.  His  disciples  were  to  teach  the 
world  that  there  is  a  glorious  isolation  in  which  truth 
may  safely  stand  against  all  the  combined  hosts  of 
error ;  and  yet  more,  that  he  who  has  God  for  him  is 
never  alone.  When  this  same  proconsul  added  :  "  We 
worship  the  gods  in  gladness,  with  feasting  and  games, 
and  you  fall  down  before  a  Crucified  One,  who  repels  all 
gladness, "t  he  was  endeavouring  to  strike  a  vibration 
from  the  least  noble  chords  in  man's  nature;  but  it  was 
enough  for  the  Christian  to  know  that  he  was  bearing 
the  cross  of  that  Crucified  One,  and  sharing  His  reproach, 
to  thrill  his  soul  with  a  joy  so  grand  and  godlike  that 
all  the   delights  possible  to   a  pagan   life  fainted   and 

*  "  Nos  immortales  deos  colimus  quos  universitas  populorum, 
quos  sacratissimi  principes  venerantur."    ("  Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  63. ) 

\  "  Nos  deos  colimcus  laetitia,  conviviis,  ludis,  vos  vero  hominem 
crucifixum  qui  laetitiam  respuit."     dbid.i 


90       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

failed  before  it.  When  it  was  once  ascertained  that  no 
suggestions  such  as  these  could  shake  the  confessor's 
steadfastness,  his  condemnation  was  pronounced.  About 
the  middle  of  the  third  century  capital  punishment 
began  to  be  deemed  insufficient ;  the  Emperor  gave 
orders  that  the  magistrate  should  endeavour  by  torture 
to  force  a  recantation.  This  horrible  method  had 
already  been  tried  in  the  persecution  at  Lyons ;  from 
this  time  it  became  a  regular  part  of  the  procedure. 
All  the  refinements  of  cruelty  were  authorised  by  law  ; 
and  inexhaustible  patience  was  thus  pitted  against 
remorseless  barbarity.  Condemnation  was  not,  in  all 
cases,  followed  by  a  violent  death.  The  Christians 
were  sometimes  sent  to  the  mines  ;  this  was  the  hard 
labour  of  that  age.  They  were  thus  exiled  to  some 
unhealthy  island.  But  such  lenient  sentences  were 
the  exception  ;  generally,  immediate  death  awaited  the 
accused.  The  kind  of  death  inflicted  varied.  Some, 
like  St.  Paul,  were  beheaded  in  prison ;  some  were 
thrown  to  wild  beasts,  like  Ignatius;  some  were 
burned,  liked  Polycarp;  some  Christian  virgins  were  even 
sentenced  to  infamy  before  being  led  to  execution.* 
Among  the  proconsuls  some  were  found  favourable  to 
the  Christians,  and  willing  to  employ  all  means  to 
save  them.  Such  magistrates,  however,  were  few;  the 
judges  were  most  frequently  the  pliant  instruments  of  the 
policy  of  the  emperor,  or  of  the  passions  of  the  people. 

Large  as  was  the  number  of  faithful  confessors,  there 
were  also  some  melancholy  defections.  Apostasy  was 
the  great  trial  and  the  great  dread  of  the  persecuted 
Church.  Every  one  who  had  not  a  solid  and  personal 
faith,  and  had  only  joined  the  Church  on  some  impulse 
of  the  mind  or  heart,  without  a  thorough  transformation 
*  "Acta  Martyrum,"  pp.  136,  403. 


BOOK    I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  91 

of  his  moral  nature,  found  himself  unable  to  endure 
persecution.  Many  of  these  men,  who  were  Christians 
only  in  name,  never  even  crossed  the  threshold  of  the 
prison.  They  did  not  wait  to  be  arrested  and 
interrogated.  "  Many  of  our  number,"  says  Cyprian, 
"vanquished  before  the  fight,  did  not  even  make  a  show 
of  sacrificing  under  compulsion.  They  ran  of  their  own 
accord  to  the  Forum,  as  if  they  were  indulging  a  long- 
cherished  desire.  They  were  to  be  seen  entreating  the 
magistrates  to  receive  their  recantation,  though  it  was 
already  almost  night."*  Others  could  endure  some  days 
of  imprisonment.  Some  held  out  until  the  time  of  their 
trial  came ;  but  the  horrible  prospect  of  torture  com- 
pleted their  defeat.  They  consented  to  sacrifice  to  the 
gods,  or  to  swear  by  the  fortune  of  the  Emperor, — a 
formula  of  apostasy  often  used,  because  it  was  less 
open.t  It  was  observed  that  those  who  had  been 
brought  up  in  dignity  and  wealth,  and  men  in  office, 
formed  the  majority  of  the  apostates, £  thus  showing,  as 
Cyprian  eloquently  remarks,  that  "  they  were  rather 
possessed  by  their  goods  than  possessed  them."  §  These 
were  not  all  hypocrites.  True  faith  has  its  hour  of 
weakness,  and  more  than  one  sincere  believer  wept 
repentant  tears,  bitter  as  Peter's,  for  the  denial  of  which 
he  had  been  guilty.  Sometimes,  too,  the  apostasy  was 
only  apparent.  A  wife  would  be  dragged  to  the  altar 
of  the  false  gods  by  her  husband,  and  he  did  the 
idolatrous  act  while  he  held  her  hands  forcibly  pressed 
within  his  own.  The  victim  of  such  a  terrible  com- 
pulsion might  truly  say,   after  the  unwilling  sacrifice 

*  "Ante  aciem  multi  victi,  ultro  ad  forum  currere,   quasi  hoc 

olim  cuperent."     (Cyprian,  "  De  lapsis,"  VIII.) 
t  Origen,  "Ad  Martyr.,"  I.278.     1  Eusebius,"H.E.,"Bk.VI.c.4l.) 
§  "  Possidere  se   credunt,  qui    potius   possidentis."      (Cyprian, 

«De  lapsis,"  VIII.) 


92  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

was  accomplished,  "It  was  you  who  did  it ;  not  I."* 
Unhappily,  too,  many  of  the  persecuted  took  the  in- 
itiative in  defection,  and  did  not  wait  for  any  violent 
constraint  to  deny  their  faith.  It  was  not,  however, 
without  deep  distress  of  heart  that  they  apostatised. 
The  very  crowd,  which  by  their  violence  had  wrung 
from  these  terrified  spirits  the  disavowal  of  their  faith, 
jested  at  their  cowardice;  and  the  denial  often  failed  to 
fulfil  its  purpose,  for  the  apostates  were  still  objects 
of  distrust  and  suspicion,  and  at  any  caprice  of  the 
fickle  multitude  their  lives  were  sacrificed. t  Many 
thus  suffered  the  martyr's  death,  who  had  renounced 
the  martyr's  crown.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  tells  us 
how  the  apostates  stood  trembling  during  the  sacrifice, 
as  if  they  were  themselves  the  victims  rather  than  the 
offerers.:};  Cyprian  has  eloquently  expressed  the  in- 
ward agony  which  they  experienced  in  that  accursed 
hour.  He  says :  "  When  the  apostate  comes  to  the 
Capitol  of  his  own  accord,  just  as  he  is  about  to 
perform  voluntarily  the  abominable  act,  does  he  not 
tremble  and  turn  pale  ?  Is  he  not  shaken  to  the  very 
depths  of  his  being,  while  his  arm  falls  powerless  by 
his  side  ?  Does  he  not  seem  to  have  lost  both  speech 
and  reason  ?  He  had  renounced  the  devil  and  the 
world,  and  how  can  he,  the  servant  of  God,  stand  erect 
and  open  his  mouth  to  deny  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ? 
Is  not  that  altar,  on  which  he  is  making  his  Lord  a 
sacrifice,  the  veriest  place  of  torture  to  him  ?  Unhappy 
man  !  what  need  hast  thou  to  bring  a  victim  for  sacri- 
fice ?      Thou  art  thyself  the  victim  before  the  altar, 

*  "  Non  feci  ;  nos  fecistis."     (Cyprian,  Epist.  xxiv.) 
f  This  occurred  at  Lyons.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  I.) 
I  i2<nrtp  ov  QvvovTtQ,    aXkd    avTol    Ovuara.      (Eusebius,  "  H.   E.," 
Bk.  VI.  c.  4.) 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  93 

for  thou  hast  made  an  offering  of  thy  salvation,  of  thy 
hope,  and  it  is  thy  faith  which  is  consumed  in  those 
accursed  flames."* 

The  dark  despair  of  these  apostates  was  terrible  to 
witness.  Some  committed  suicide,  like  Judas.  Cyprian 
speaks  of  a  woman,  who,  at  the  point  of  death,  tore 
with  her  teeth  the  tongue  which  had  denied  the 
Lord  Jesus. t  There  were  various  forms  of  apostasy. 
Many  Christians,  to  save  themselves  from  the  last  ex- 
tremities, whether  of  suffering  or  of  shame,  bought  for 
money  the  tolerance  of  the  magistrates,  or  managed  to 
get  possession  of  a  certificate,  attesting  that  they  had 
sacrificed  to  the  gods,  when  they  had  not  done  so. 
But  it  was  a  vain  subterfuge,  and  only  added  sin  to 
sin.  The  libellatici,  as  those  persons  were  called  who 
had  obtained  this  false  certificate,  were  none  the  less 
numbered  among  the  apostates.];  The  case  was  the 
same  with  those  who  had  received  such  certificates 
second-hand,  without  having  themselves  appealed  to 
the  magistrates.  After  each  persecution,  the  Church 
had  a  sorrowful  reckoning  of  the  dead  who  had  fallen 
on  the  field  of  battle;  and  the  lost,  over  whom  the 
bitterest  tears  were  wept,  were  not  the  martyrs,  but 
those  who  in  the  day  of  peril  had  denied  their  Lord. 
"  No  words,  only  tears,"  said  Cyprian,  "  can  express 
the  grief  we  feel  over  the  wound  made  in  the  body  of 
Christ,  which  is  the  Church,  by  the  fatal  falling  away 

*  "  Quid  hostiam  tecum,  miser,  quid  victimam  immolaturus 
imponis.  Ipse  ad  aram  hostia,  immolasti  illic  salutcm  tuam,  spem 
tuam,  fidem  tuam  funestis  illis  ignibus  concremasti."  (Cyprian, 
"  De  lapsis,"  III.)  f  Ibid.,  XXIV. 

I  "  Sententiam  nostram  protulimus  adversus  cos,  qui  se  ipsos 
infideles  illicita  nefarariorum  libellorum  professione  prodiderant, 
quasi  evasuri  irretientes  illos  diaboli  laqueos  viderentur,  qui  non 
minus,  quam  si  ad  nefarias  aras  accessissent,  hoc  ipso,  quod  ipsum 
contestati  fuissent,  tenerentur."     (Cyprian,  Epist.  xxx.  3.) 


94       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  some.  Who  could  be  so  insensible,  so  hard-hearted, 
so  forgetful  of  the  love  of  the  brethren,  as  to  look  with 
a  dry  eye  on  these  terrible,  these  ruinous  desolations  ?"* 
The  Christians  found  faithless  in  the  hour  of  trial, 
used  afterwards  to  come  back  in  crowds,  and  stand 
knocking  at  the  door  of  the  Church  ;  and  the  mode 
of  their  re-admission  gave  rise  to  one  of  the  most 
delicate  questions  of  ecclesiastical  discipline. 

The  noble  courage  of  the  true  confessors  of  the 
faith  stands  forth  in  all  its  grandeur  against  the  dark 
background  of  pagan  cruelty  and  cowardly  apostasy. 
They  were  heroic  alike  in  word  and  deed.  The 
mighty  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit  sounded  through  the 
lips  of  the  martyrs. t  The  sublime  had  ceased  to  be 
extraordinary  in  the  Church.  We  feel,  as  we  read 
the  replies  of  the  humblest  Christians,  so  grand  in 
their  very  simplicity,  that  human  nature  is  raised 
above  itself;  that  it  is  divinely  exalted  by  the  power 
of  faith  in  the  presence  of  instant  peril.  Especially 
in  the  first  persecutions  is  this  simple  grandeur  a 
pre-eminent  characteristic.  In  process  of  time  there 
came  to  be  a  scarcely  definable  theatrical  element 
in  martyrdom,  and  a  certain  admixture  of  human 
passion.  Towards  the  commencement  of  the  fourth 
century,  the  Christians  began  to  feel  that  the  triumph 
of  their  cause  was  secure.  Their  language  sometimes 
breathes  defiance;  some  fling  the  reproach  of  tyranny 
in  the  face  of  their  judges.^     The  golden  age  of  mar- 

*  "  Lacrymis  magis  quam  verbis  opus  est  ad  exprimandum 
dolorem,  quo  corporis  nostri  plaga  deflenda  est."  (Cyprian,  "  De 
lapsis,"  IV.) 

t  ''Vox  plena  Spiritus  Sancti  de  martyris  ore  prorupit." 
(Cyprian,  Epist.  x   4.) 

I  Martyrdom  of  Saint  Romanus:  "  Cur  jam  tyranne non  cesses." 
("Acta  Martyrum,"  pp.  214,  315.) 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  95 

tyrdom  is  in  the  second  and  third  centuries.  The 
impression  produced  by  it  upon  the  world  and  on  the 
Church  itself  passes  all  conception.  "  It  is  certain," 
said  Justin  Martyr,  "that  nothing  can  make  us  deny 
our  faith,  neither  the  sword  of  the  slayer,  nor  the 
cross  of  agony,  nor  the  teeth  of  fierce  beasts,  nor 
bonds,  nor  fire,  nor  tortures  of  any  kind.  The  more 
men  multiply  our  sufferings,  the  more  does  the 
number  of  the  faithful  grow,  the  more  are  the 
disciples*  found  on  the  side  of  Christ.".*  Instan- 
taneous conversions  took  place  in  the  very  pretorium 
where  the  Christians  were  on  their  trial.  When 
Marcellinus  was  condemned,  the  clerk  of  the  court 
openly  expressed  his  indignation,  and  threw  down 
the  insignia  of  his  office. t  Thus  was  daily  verified 
the  beautiful  saying  of  Tertullian :  "The  blood  of 
the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church."  The 
Christians  who  survived  the  confessors  cherished  an 
ardent  attachment  to  their  memory.  They  gathered 
up  their  ashes  ;  they  recorded  their  words  and  acts.  J 
This  natural  enthusiasm,  carried  to  excess,  became 
the  parent  of  more  than  one  dangerous  error,  and 
led,  in  the  end,  to  sinful  idolatry.  But  so  long  as  it 
was  contained  within  due  bounds,  it  stimulated  faith, 
and  sustained  the  spirit  of  heroism.  We  find  constant 
traces  of  such  an  influence  in  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers.  In  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs"  it  finds 
expression  in  the  following  passage,  which  is  full  of 
touching  simplicity  and  true  eloquence  :\"  O  blessed 
martyrs,  ye  who  have  been  tried  by  fire,  like  fine 
gold,     you    are    crowned    with   the    diadem    and    the 

*  "QffTrtp  dv  toiovto.  rtva  yivrjrai,  toctovtiij  /.iciWov  dWot  7r\tiuveg  ttioto'i. 
(Justin,  "  Dial,  cum  Tryph  ,"  p.  337.) 

f  "  Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  267.  \  Ibid.,  p.  179. 


96  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

crown  which  cannot  fade  away,  because  you  have 
bruised  under  your  feet  the  serpent's  head."*  Origen 
gives  us  the  most  glorious  conception  of  these  suffer- 
ings of  the  confessors,  when  he  speaks  of  them  like 
St.  Paul,  as  the  fulfilling  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Saviour,  as  the  being  crucified  with  Him.  He  says: 
"As  we  behold  the  martyrs  everywhere  under  con- 
demnation, coming  forth  from  every  Church  to  be 
brought  before  the  tribunal,  we  see  in  each  of  them 
the  Lord  Himself  condemned.  How  can  we  doubt 
it,  when  we  know  from  His  own  words,  that  it 
is  not  a  mere  man  like  one  of  us,  who  is  cast 
into  prison  to  endure  cold  and  hunger  and  thirst,  but 
that  it  is  He  Himself  who  thus  suffers  in  the  sufferer. 
Hence,  when  any  Christian  is  condemned  simply  as 
a  Christian,  and  for  no  other  reason,  for  no  other 
crime,  it  is  Jesus  Christ  who  is  condemned  in  his 
person.  It  follows  that  He  is  condemned  everywhere 
throughout  the  earth  where  men  suffer  in  His 
name."t  Martyrdom,  thus  regarded,  presents  a  spec- 
tacle equally  sublime  and  pathetic.  "  A  great  as- 
sembly," says  Origen,  "  is  called  to  witness  your 
combat,  like  the  thousands  who  gather  to  watch 
famous  athletes.  You  can  say  with  Paul,  '  We  are  a 
spectacle  unto  angels  and  to  men.'  Thus  the  whole 
world  and  all  angels,  those  on  the  right  hand  and  those 
on  the  left ;  all  men,  those  on  the  Lord's  side  and  those 
who  are  with  His  adversaries,  are  present  at  your 
conflict  for  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and,  according  to  its 
issue,  either  the  angels  in  heaven  will  rejoice  over 
you,   or — God  forbid — there   shall  be  joy  over  you  in 

*  "Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  194. 

I   'OaciKig    ovv    xPl(yTiav^>Q    ciKaZ,irai,    Xpiarlq     tcrroj     6     SiKaZofnvog. 
(Origen,  "  In  Jercmiam  homelia,"  XIV.  8  ;    Vol.  III.  pp.  212,  213.) 


BOOK   I. — PAGAN    PERSECUTIONS.  97 

hell."*  In  other  words,  the  arena  of  the  Church  is  the 
world,  the  witnesses  are  heaven  and  earth,  and  the 
strength  of  the  Church  is  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  shame- 
fully entreated  in  every  one  of  His  tortured  followers. 
A  cause  so  noble,  naturally  produces  noble  champions. 
The  pagan  world,  with  its  glory  and  power,  is  not  strong 
enough  to  fight  with  them  and  overcome  them.  Thus 
we  see  the  Church  stepping  with  calmness  and  com- 
posure into  the  Roman  circus  ;  for  high  above  emperor, 
and  generals,  and  senators,  she  sees  God  the  Judge, 
and  the  crown  of  life  held  forth  to  those  who  are 
faithful  unto  death. 

f  Maya  Osarpov  avytcpoTeXrai  l<p'  yfxXv  aymn^oykvoiQ.        (Ori°"en,   "  Ad 
Martyr.,"  XVIII.  Vol.  I.  p.  285.)' 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE,    FROM   A.D.    98 
TO    A.D.    I90. 

§  I.     The  Persecution  wider  Trajan  and  Adrian.     The 
Revolt  of  Barcochebas. 

After  a  transient  peace  enjoyed  under  Nerva,  the 
Church  entered  upon  a  new  period  of  persecution  under 
Trajan.  As  in  preceding  reigns,  the  persecution  was 
excited  by  popular  tumults.  In  several  cities,  the 
people  rose  against  the  Christians,  and  clamoured  for 
their  death.  Christianity  had  made  notable  progress 
in  the  years  preceding,  especially  in  the  provinces  of 
Asia  Minor,  where,  amid  the  universal  decadence  of  the 
old  religions,  and  the  eager  restlessness  of  men's  minds, 
a  few  favouring  circumstances  sufficed  to  draw  great 
numbers  into  the  Church.  According  to  the  testimony 
of  Pliny,  every  age  and  condition  of  life  furnished  its 
contingent  to  the  new  converts.  The  Roman  pro- 
consul wrote  in  alarm:  "The  superstition  has  spread 
from  the  cities  into  the  country  like  an  infection  carried 
by  the  wind.  The  temples  are  forsaken,  and  in  many 
places  the  sacred  ceremonies  have  been  interrupted. 
Victims  are  no  longer  brought  to  be  sacrificed  to  the 
gods."*  This  last  charge,  connected  with  what  oc- 
curred at  Ephesus  in  the  time  of  St.  Paul,  explains  the 

*  "  Multi  omnis  setatis,  omnis  ordinis.  Neque  enim  civitates 
tantum  scd  vicos  etiam  superstitionis  istius  contagio  pervagata  est, 
Prope  jam  desolata  templa  "     (Pliny,  Bk.  X.  Epist.  xcvi.) 


BOOK   I. — PERSECUTION    UNDER   TRAJAN.  gg 

hostility  of  one  large  section  of  the  population  against 
the  Christians.  All  those  who  lived  by  the  altar  were 
sure  to  malign  those  who  so  gravely  compromised 
their  interests.  To  such  motives  may  be  in  great  part 
ascribed  the  popular  tumults  raised  against  the  Church, 
which  Eusebius  mentions.* 

The  prince  who  at  this  time  governed  the  empire,  was 
not  one  of  those  weak  and  passionate  tyrants,  who  are 
ever  ready  to  flatter  the  passions  of  the  multitude,  and 
are  the  terrible  instruments  of  its  fury  or  caprice.  He 
was  neither  a  Nero  nor  a  Domitian.  Trajan  was  a  man 
of  elevated  mind,  an  adept  in  the  philanthropic  philosophy 
of  his  time,  the  friend  of  Tacitus  and  Pliny.  He  was 
also  an  illustrious  general  and  a  consummate  politician. 
He  allowed  himself  to  be  guided  by  reasons  of  State  ; 
but  these,  as  we  have  seen,  tended  to  incline  him  to 
persecution.  He  had  set  himself  the  task  of  regene- 
rating Roman  society ;  he  was  the  great  protector  of 
paganism ;  and  Pliny,  in  his  Panegyric,  praises  him  for 
his  piety.  Better  than  any  other,  the  philosophic  pro- 
consul could  estimate  the  true  value  of  this  official 
piety.  The  confidant  of  his  master,  he  knew  the  scorn- 
ful scepticism  which  lurked  beneath  this  seeming 
devotion ;  but  it  was  all  the  more  needful,  from  a 
political  point  of  view,  to  encourage  the  revival  of  the 
ancient  faiths  among  the  people.  Trajan  had  also 
another  motive  for  being  highly  averse  to  Christianity. 
He  had  issued  very  severe  decrees  against  every  species 
of  secret  association,  commanding  his  proconsuls  to 
prohibit    and   punish  them.t      The  assemblies  of  the 

*  MfpcKwf  kcii  Kara  iroXnc  t£  iirava<7Ta(7P0)Q  dti/xwv  top  ica9'  yfiojv  tcare- 
Xei  \oycc  dvaKivt]6fjvai  Stojyixov.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  III.  c.  32.) 

f  '*  Quod  ipsum  faceje  desisse  post  edictum  meum  quo  secundum 
mandata  tua  hetaerias  esse  vetueram."     (Pliny,  Bk.  X.  Epist.  xcvi.j 


100  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Christians  might  well  pass  for  such  associations,  and 
thus  fall  under  the  ban  of  the  emperor. 

Pliny,  immediately  on  his  arrival  in  Bithynia,  found 
himself  brought  into  contact  with  the  Christians. 
They  were  speedily  denounced  to  him  by  eager  "in- 
formers. He  was  greatly  surprised  at  the  number  and 
character  of  the  accused,  and  asked  directions  from  his 
master.  The  letters  exchanged  on  this  subject  between 
him  and  Trajan  are  of  great  importance,  since  they 
contain  the  first  imperial  rescript  against  Christianity. 
However  moderate  in  form,  this  marks  a  momentous 
era.  Up  to  this  time,  the  pretext  for  the  persecution 
of  the  new  religion  had  been  rather  the  crimes  of  the 
Christians  than  the  doctrine  itself.  After  Trajan's 
reply  to  Pliny,  this  ceases  to  be  the  case.  The  accu- 
sation no  longer  rests  upon  heavy  crimes  laid  to  the 
charge  of  Christianity.  It  is  well  understood  between 
Trajan  and  Pliny  that  no  such  charge  can  be  sustained. 
The  proconsul  has  used  all  his  skill  in  examining  the 
accused ;  he  has  done  more ;  according  to  Roman 
custom,  he  has  put  two  slaves  to  the  torture.*  But  he 
has  been  unable  to  find  anything  to  lay  to  the  charge 
of  the  new  religionists,  except  the  practice  of  their  own 
worship.  The  sole  crime  of  the  Christians  is  having 
renounced  the  religion  of  their  fathers.t  If  then  they 
are  still  to  be  punished  and  proscribed,  the  punishment 
and  proscription  are  aimed  at  Christianity  itself. 
Pliny  asks  the  emperor  what  course  he  is  under  such 
circumstances  to  pursue.  Must  he  punish  equally  all 
who  are  implicated  in  this  superstition  without  respect 

*  "  Interrogavi  ipsos  an  essent  Christiani  ;  magis  necessarium 
credidi  ex  duabus  ancillis,  quas  ministry  dicebantur,  quid  esset  veri, 
et  per  tormenta  quaerere."     (Pliny,  Bk.  X.  Epist.  xcvi.) 

•f  "  Nihil  aliud  inveni  quam  superstition^m  pravam  et  immodi- 
cam."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK   I. — PERSECUTION    UNDER   TRAJAN.  IOI 

of  age  or  sex  ?  Must  he  seek  to  bring  them  to  repent- 
ance, constrain  them  to  apostatise  (as  already  with 
notable  success  he  had  done),  or  must  adherence  to  the 
new  religion  be  treated  as  an  inexpiable  crime  ?  Does 
the  very  name  of  Christian  constitute  a  man  a  criminal, 
when  on  all  other  points  his  innocence  is  proved  un- 
blemished ?  * 

Trajan's  reply  is  very  clear.  He  does  not  desire 
persecution  for  persecution's  sake,  for  he  is  not  cruel. 
He  desires,  then,  that  it  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible. 
Without  laying  down  fixed  and  positive  rules,  the 
emperor  wills  that  information  against  the  Christians 
should  not  be  encouraged,  especially  anonymous  in- 
formation; this  would  be  a  retrogression  to  the  practices 
of  other  times. t  The  Christians  are  not  to  be  sought 
out,  and  the  greatest  indulgence  is  to  be  shown  to  those 
who  will  recant.  But  to  the  question,  whether  Chris- 
tianity is  in  itself  a  crime,  Trajan  replies  without  the 
least  ambiguity.  Whosoever  is  convicted  of  it,  and 
refuses  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  is  to  be  put  to  death. £ 
The  condemnation  of  the  new  religion  is  thus  absolute 
and  positive.  The  more  the  emperor  is  disposed  to 
show  leniency  to  individuals,  the  more  evident  is  it 
that  Christianity  itself  is  laid  under  the  imperial  ban. 
The  Christians  were  the  first  to  be  misled  by  the  mild- 
ness of  the  emperor's  words.  Comparing  the  modera- 
tion of  Trajan  with  the  cruelty  of  his  predecessors,  and 
of  some  of  his  successors,  the  early  Church  refused  to 
allow  him  to  be  called  a  persecutor.  Neither  Tertullian 
nor  Melito  place  him  among  the  enemies  of  the  Church. 

*  "  Nomen  ipsum,  si  flagitiis  careat." 

}  "  Nam  et  pessimi  exempli  et  non  nostri  seculi."    (Pliny,  Bk. 
X.  Epist.  lxxvii.) 

t  "  Si  deferantur  et  arguantur,  puniendi  sunt."     (Ibid.) 


102  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

The  illusion  was  a  strange  one ;  the  letter  of  Trajan, 
by  regulating  and  legalising  persecution,  made  it  a 
permanent  institution.  The  moderation  of  the  emperor 
would  die  with  him,  while  his  decree  was  a  terrible 
weapon  of  offence  perpetually  directed  against  the 
Church,  and  which  would  soon  escape  the  grasp  of  a 
Trajan  and  a  Pliny. 

The  letter  of  Pliny  informs  us  how  these  first  persecu- 
tions were  conducted.  The  Christians  brought  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  proconsul,  whether  under  denunciation 
as  Christians  or  for  any  other  cause,  were  interrogated, 
and  on  being  convicted  of  belonging  to  the  sect,  were  at 
once  condemned  to  death.  *  They  were  taken  before 
the  statues  of  the  gods ;  the  image  of  the  emperor  was 
brought.  They  were  urged  to  pay  homage  to  the  gods, 
to  burn  incense  in  their  honour,  and  to  pour  out  the 
sacred  libations  while  pronouncing  maledictions  on  the 
name  of  Christ,  t  The  inroads  made  by  merely  out- 
ward and  nominal  Christianity,  as  early  as  the  days  of 
St.  John,  explain  how  it  was  that  a  considerable 
number  of  those  thus  accused  fell  into  apostasy.  They 
did  not,  however,  calumniate  the  religion  they  aban- 
doned ;  on  .the  contrary,  constrained  by  the  power  of 
the  truth,  they  bore  the  highest  testimony  to  its  worth. 
Others  remained  immoveable,  and  sealed  their  fidelity 
with  their  blood.  X 

The  policy  of  Trajan  towards  the  Christians  was 
adopted  by  his  successor  Adrian.  There  might  have 
seemed  reason  to  fear  that  the  passionate  attachment 
of  this  emperor  to  ancient  customs  would  have   led  to  a 

*  "  Confitentes  iterum  ac  tertio  interrogavi  supplicium  minatus." 
(Epist.  Bk.  X.  c.  96.) 

I  "  Cum,  prasunte  me,  deos  appellarent  et  imagini  tuae  thure  ac 
'.'ino  supplicarunt,  praeterea  maledicerent  Christo."     (Ibid.) 

I  "  Perseverantes  duci  justi."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK   I. — PERSECUTION    UNDER   ADRIAN.  103 

general  persecution  of  the  Church.  There  was  all  the 
more  ground  for  such  an  apprehension,  because  in  the 
countries  where  Christianity  had  long  taken  root,  as  in 
Asia  Minor,  the  enemies  of  the  Christians  were  many 
and  bitter,  and  spared  neither  violence  nor  perfidy  in 
their  attacks  upon  them,  sometimes  laying  anonymous 
charges  against  them,  sometimes  stirring  up  tumults, 
so  as  to  force  the  magistrates  to  interfere.*  The 
emperor  in  one  of  his  journeys  into  Greece,  sought 
initiation  into  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis,  and  the 
Christians  saw  in  this  new  sanction  given  to  pagan 
superstitions  new  peril  for  themselves. t 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  first  apologies  of 
Christianity  were  written.  Quadratus,  an  elder  or 
bishop  in  the  city  of  Athens,  and  Aristides,  both 
sent  to  Adrian  an  argumentative  defence  of  their 
faith.  The  result  of  this  intervention  was  very 
happy  for  the  Church.  According  to  Melito  of  Sardis 
— who  was  almost  a  contemporary  of  Quadratus  and 
Aristides,  since  he  lived  under  Marcus  Aurelius — a 
benignant  letter  was  written  by  Adrian  to  Fondanus, 
the  proconsul  of  Asia  Minor.  This  letter  has  been 
preserved  ;  J  and  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  repre- 
sent it  as  a  sort  of  revocation  of  Trajan's  rescript,  and 
an  implicit  authorisation  of  Christianity,  allowing  it  to 
take  its  place  among  the  recognised  religions  of  the 
empire.  An  act  of  such  capital  importance  would, 
beyond  question,  have  been  expressly  notified.     Adrian 

*  See  Adrian's  letter  to  Minutius  Fondanus,  Proconsul  of 
Asia  Minor  :  "Precibus  et  acclamationibus  uti  non  permitto." 
( '  Gieseler,"  I.  172      Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  Bk.  IV.  c.  8.) 

-f-  St.  Jerome,  l>  De  Viris  illustribus,"  c.  xix. 

I  This  letter  was  translated  into  Greek  by  Eusebius  ("  H.  E." 
Bk.  IV.  c.  9).  Rufinus  has  probably  given  the  original  in  his  trans- 
lation of  Eusebius. 


104  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

simply  confirmed  the  decree  of  his  predecessor.  If  he 
prohibits  calumny  and  summary  conviction,  he  never- 
theless declares  that  all  that  is  contrary  to  law  is  to  be 
punished.*  Now,  the  profession  of  an  unauthorised 
religion  was  unlawful  in  the  highest  degree  ;  and  it 
would  need  an  unequivocal  declaration  to  raise  the  new 
faith — the  object  of  such  violent  animosities — above  the 
interdict  which  for  so  many  years  had  rested  upon  it. 

While  Asia  Minor  was  the  focus  of  persecution, 
the  other  provinces  in  which  Christianity  flourished 
were  not  exempt.  Simon,  the  son  of  Cleophas,  who 
succeeded  James  in  the  government  of  the  Church 
of  Jerusalem,  suffered  martyrdom  in  Palestine  under 
Trajan.  The  authors  of  his  death  were  some  fanatical 
Judaeo-Christians  attached  to  the  synagogue.  They 
accused  him  of  seditious  proceedings,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  descended  from  the  royal  race  of  his 
people,  t     He  was  crucified. 

The  time  came  when  the  Jews  were  no  longer 
obliged  to  use  the  hand  of  their  adversaries  in  order  to 
persecute  the  Christians.  Since  the  year  115,  they  had 
never  ceased  to  stir  up  rebellion  in  Greece,  in  Egypt, 
in  Cyprus,  and  in  Mesopotamia.  Adrian,  in  his 
irritation,  desired  to  annihilate  the  last  remnants  of 
Judaism.  He  forbade  the  Jews  to  practise  circum- 
cision, and  commanded  that  an  entirely  new  town 
should  be  built  upon  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem.  The 
emperor   encountered    an   obstinate    resistance.       The 

*  "  Si  quis  igitur  accusat  et  probat  adversum  leges  quidquam  agere 
memoratos  homines  pro  merito  peccatorum  etiam  ^supplicia 
statues."  (Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacras,"  I.  73.)  "  If  anyone  gives  evi- 
dence that  the  persons  named  have  done  anything  against  the  laws, 
they  are  to  be  condemned  to  suffer  in  proportion  to  the  gravity  of 
their  crimes." 

f  EvKtxpavrriQeis  vicbrCbv  mpkaetav.  (Hegesippus.  See  Routh,  "Reliq. 
Sacrae,"  II.  14.) 


BOOK    I. — THE   CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.         105 

Jews,  under  the  leadership  of  a  false  Messiah  named 
Barcochebas,  struggled  long,  and  not  without  success, 
against  the  Roman  eagles. 

The  false  Messiah  would  naturally  persecute  the 
disciples  of  the  true.  Thus  the  blood  of  the  Chris- 
tians flowed  in  torrents.  When  the  insurrection 
had  been  subdued,  the  town  of  JElia.  Capitolina,  thus 
named  in  honour  of  the  emperor,  rose  in  the  place  of  the 
Holy  City. 

Admission  to  it  was  prohibited  to  the  Jews.-  They 
were  even  forbidden  to  look  from  afar  off  at  the  place 
where  once  had  been  Jerusalem.  "  Adrian,"  says  an 
ancient  historian  of  the  Church,  "was  resolved  to  root 
out  this  rebel  race,  and  not  leave  it  even  a  pretext  for 
rebellion,  not  suffering  it  to  hear  the  name  of  the  father- 
land, so  fearful  was  he  that,  in  its  zeal  and  audacity, 
it  would  steal  secretly  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  there 
to  fight  with  the  Romans."  t  These  decretals  brought 
down  the  heaviest  blow,  not  only  on  Judaism  but 
on  Judaeo-Christianity,  which  had  henceforward  no 
alternative  but  to  unite  with  the  Church,  or  to 
perpetuate  itself  in  the  form  of  an  heretical  sect. 

§  II.  The  Church  and  the  Empire  under  the  reign  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Commodus.  (a.d. 
138-191.) 

Between  the  tyranny  of  the  first  Caesars  and  the 
sanguinary  and  shameless  folly  of  Commodus  and 
Heliogabalus,  a  time  of  respite  was  given  to  the  world, 
under  the  reign  of  the  four  philosophical  emperors.  Under 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  IV.  c.  6. 

•f-  To    Tcdv  tOvog  t£   Iksivov   Kai  rt|£   ircpl   ra  'lepoaoXv/ua   yijg   iranirav 

liriGaiveiv  eipyerai.  (Aristo  Pellaeus,  in  Eusebius,  i%  H.  E.,''  Bk. 
IV.  c.  6.    Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacra,"  I.  96.) 


106      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

two  of  these  emperors  the  Church  also  enjoyed  larger 
immunity  from  suffering,  hut  it  never  passed  a  single  day 
in  complete  security.  We  have  seen  frow  persecution, 
formally  authorised  by  the  decree  of  Trajan,  slumbered 
again  under  Adrian,  but  it  was  a  slumber  lightly 
broken,  and  at  any  moment  legal  proceedings  might  be 
commenced  against  a  proscribed  religion.  Antoninus 
Pius  (136-161) — the  best,  perhaps,  of  all  the  Roman 
Emperors,  the  most  simply  virtuous,  the  most  careful 
of  human  life — maintained  the  same  character  in  his 
conduct  towards  the  Church.  Marcus  Aurelius  has 
given  us  in  his  "  Meditations  "  a  very  beautiful  por- 
traiture of  his  predecessor.  He  says  :  "  Gentleness  was 
united  in  him  with  stern  inflexibility  of  judgment.  He 
scorned  the  vain  glory  which  confers  false  honours. 
Zeal  for  the  public  good  ever  animated  him.  So  long 
as  he  reigned,  flattery  was  compelled  to  hide  its  head. 
He  had  no  superstitious  fear  of  the  gods.  While 
always  conforming  his  conduct  to  the  example  of  our 
fathers,  he  did  not  affect  any  display  of  fidelity  to  the 
ancient  traditions."  *  Capitolinus,  his  historian,  speaks 
of  him  thus:  "  Full  of  clemency,  of  a  placid  tempera- 
ment, sober,  gentle,  he  did  all  things  with  moderation, 
without  boasting.  Like  Titus,  he  esteemed  it  better  to 
spare  the  life  of  one  man  than  to  kill  a  thousand 
enemies." t  Antoninus  took  no  direct  part  in  the  per- 
secutions. If  he  could  not  prevent  their  recurrence  in 
some  parts  of  his  empire,  it  was  because,  in  order 
entirely  to  put  a  stop  to  them,  he  must  have  revoked 
Trajan's  decree,  and  thus  effected  a  radical  revolution 
in  the  whole  constitution  of  the  State,  and  he  was  not 

*  "  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius/'  I.  6. 

•f  "  Moribus    clemens,    placidus     ingenio,     prsecipue    sobrius  * 
("  Hist.  August.  Anton.  Pius,"  Jul.Capitolinu*  ) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.        10J 

the  man  thus  to  move  in  advance  of  his  age.  When 
he  was  informed  that  in  Greece  the  people,  irritated  by 
some  public  calamity,  were  rising  and  preparing  to 
massacre  the  Christians,  he  wrote  to  the  magistrates  of 
the  towns  where  these  tumults  had  broken  out,  direct- 
ing them  to  take  no  new  measures  against  the  Church.* 
It  is  possible  that  these  favourable  letters  may  have 
been  the  result  of  the  first  "  Apology  of  Justin  Martyr," 
which  was  about  this  time  presented  to  the  emperor. 
That  "  Apology,"  the  consideration  of  which  in  all  its 
relations  to  doctrinal  discussion  is  beyond  our  present 
purpose, t  is  full  of  a  manly  courage  and  simple  dignity, 
which  must  have  appeared  very  remarkable  in  an  age 
when  respect  and  servility,  firmness  and  rebellion,  were 
so  commonly  confounded.  Justin's  attitude  was  as  far 
as  possible  from  that  of  a  suppliant,  tremblingly  craving 
the  favour  of  an  arbitrary  power.  Deeply  convinced  of 
the  goodness  of  his  cause,  he  pleads  it  with  authority, 
in  the  name  of  the  eternal  law  of  justice,  to  which 
violence  was  done  in  the  person  of  the  Christians, 
and  he  makes  it  very  clear  that  he  believes  he  is 
doing  a  service  to  his  country,  in  thus  denouncing  its 
flagrant  iniquities.  This  will  be  self-evident  from  the 
introduction  to  the  "  Apology,"  which  is  as  follows  : 

"  To  the  Emperor  Titus-^Elius-Adrian-Antoninus- 
Pius,  Caesar  Augustus,  and  to  his  son  the  eminent 
philosopher,  and  to  Lucius,  philosopher  and  friend  of 
science,  son  of  Lucius  Caesar  by  nature,  and  son  of  the 
emperor  by  adoption,  to  the  reverend  Senate,  and  to  the 
whole  Roman  people.     In  the  name  of  these  unjustly 

*   'O    C£  Trarijp   gov  rah  Trt'Atm  Trepl  rov  firjfilv  veurepi^t  iv   irtpi  rj^tuiv 

tyoaif/fv.  (Melito,  in  "  Apol.  ad  Marc.  Aurel."  Eusebius,  "  H.  E  ," 
Bk.  IV.  c  26.1 

1  We  shall  devote  a  special  chapter  to  the  apology  of  Chris- 
tianity doctrinally  considered. 


I08  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

hated  and  much-abused  men,  I,  Justin,  one  of  them- 
selves, present  to  you  this  discourse  and  petition.* 
You,  who  are  everywhere  proclaimed  the  Pious,  the 
guardian  of  justice,  the  friend  of  truth,  your  acts  shall 
show  whether  you  merit  these  titles,  t  My  design  is 
neither  to  flatter  you  by  this  letter  nor  to  obtain  any 
favour.  X  I  simply  ask  you  to  judge  us  by  the  rules 
of  a  scrupulous  and  enlightened  equity,  and  not  by  a 
mere  presumption,  nor  in  the  name  of  a  superstition 
sanctioned  by  you  in  order  t®  please  men,  nor  by  an  un- 
reflecting impulse,  nor  at  the  persuasion  of  calumny. 
This  would  be  to  give  judgment  against  yourself,  for  we 
fear  no  harm  that  can  be  done,  to  us  by  anyone,  if  we 
are  not  found  guilty  of  any  crime.  You  can  kill,  you 
cannot  injure  us.  §  Our  request  is  neither  unreasonable 
nor  audacious.  What  we  ask  is  simply  that  a  close 
investigation  may  be  made  into  the  charges  brought 
against  us,  and  that  if  they  be  well  founded  we  be 
severely  punished,  as  is  our  due.  But  if  they  are 
without  proof,  does  not  reason  forbid  you  to  do  wrong 
to  these  calumniated  men,  or  rather  to  yourselves,  who 
would  in  such  a  case  be  acting  not  in  equity  but  in 
passion  ?  For  the  wise  man  there  is  but  one  sure  way 
of  judging,  that  is,  to  allow  the  accused  every  oppor- 
tunity to  prove  their  innocence,  and  not  to  listen  on  the 
throne  to  the  counsels  of  violence  or  tyranny,  but  to 
those  of  piety  and  philosophy.  ||  On  these  terms  alone 
can  princes  and  subjects  know  true  happiness.  One  of 
old   has    said  that  if  governors  and  governed  do  not 

*  \ovgt~ivos  eh  avTwv.     ("  Apol.,"  I.  Opera,  p.  53.) 
t  Ei  ct  Kui  v-rrapxiTe  ceix9i](Ttrai.     (Ibid.) 

X  Ov     yap    KuXciKtvaovTic    ovCt    Trpug    xc'Plv    Ofu\t](TOVT££.    (Ibid.) 
§  'Yp.tig  dy  a-rroKTCivai  cvvaaOe,  |8\ai//ai  V  ov.      I  Ibid.,  p.  54.) 
||    Opoiwc;    c)'    ai  kui  tovq  apxovrag  jt<?)  ftia,  j.itdt  Tvpavvidi,  d\X'  tvatGdq 
Kai  <pi\o<ro<}>ia,  cucoXovOovvtciq,  ti)v  tyrjtyov  TidtcQai.      (Ibid.) 


BOOK    I. — THE   CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.        109 

allow  themselves  to  be  guided  by  philosophy,  there  is 
no  happiness  for  the  State.  Our  duty,  then,  is  to  make 
our  deeds  and  our  doctrines  fully  known,  lest  we  should 
be  held  responsible  for  crimes  committed  against  us 
through  blindness  and  ignorance.  Your  duty  to  your- 
selves, as  dictated  by  reason,  is  to  investigate  our  cause, 
and  to  act  as  good  judges.  *  You  will  then  be 
inexcusable  before  God  if  you  act  not  justly  when  you 
have  once  known  the  truth." 

Such  words  might  well  surprise  the  rulers  of  the 
world;  it  was  the  first  time  they  had  heard  the  firm 
bold  utterance  of  the  right,  and  the  just  demand  of  the 
Christian  conscience. 

Justin  Martyr  goes  on  to  set  forth  with  much  power 
the  iniquitousness  of  the  summary  modes  of  trial  used 
in  the  case  of  the  disciples  of  the  new  religion,  who 
were  condemned  upon  the  simple  declaration  that  they 
were  Christians.  He  says :  "  Men  deserve  neither 
praise  nor  punishment  for  the  name  they  bear,  but  for 
the  kind  of  life  they  lead."  He  then  deals,  with  re- 
markable force,  with  the  accusations  brought  against 
the  Christians  ;  he  repudiates  them  one  by  one,  and 
according  to  the  practice  of  ancient  apologists,  attacks 
his  adversaries  while  he  defends  himself,  and  turns 
against  them  the  sword  he  has  snatched  from  their 
hands.  The  leading  charges  against  the  Christians  are 
three.  They  are  denounced  to  the  emperor  as  atheists, 
rebels,  and  evil-doers.  "True,"  replies  Justin,  "we 
are  atheists,  if  to  be  otherwise  we  must  needs  acknow- 
ledge your  gods,  t  which  are  but  devils ;  and  this 
glorious  atheism   we  hold  in   common   with  Socrates, 

*  'Y/xtTtpov  ce,   6)g   a'tpiZ   \6yog,    ('ikovovtciq    dya9oi<g  tvpivKtaQai  Kpiras. 
("Apol,"  I.  Opera,  p.  54.1 

f  'OpioXoyovfitv  rdv  to'iovtuv  6tu>v  dOioi  tlvai.    (Ibid.,  p.  56.) 


IIO  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

who  was  sacrificed,  as  we  are,  for  the  cause  of  that  great 
truth  derived  from  the  word  which  he  published  in 
Greece.  As  for  us,  we  have  received  it  from  the  Word 
Himself,  clothed  in  a  visible  form.  Therefore  are  we 
called  atheists.  We  are  such,  in  reference  to  your  gods; 
we  are  no  atheists  as  touching  the  God  of  truth,  the 
Father  of  righteousness,  of  wisdom,  and  of  all  virtue, 
the  most  Holy.  Him  we  worship.  We  honour  Him 
in  word  and  in  deed,  and  we  desire  freely  to  impart  to 
all  the  truth  which  we  have  received.  We  do  not  place 
wreaths  of  flowers  on  our  altars,  nor  gather  round  them 
a  crowd  of  victims  ;  we  do  not  worship  the  works  of 
men's  hands,  placed  in  the  temples  under  the  names  of 
some  divinity.  How  can  we  believe  that  God  would 
offer  Himself  in  such  a  manner  for  our  adoration  ?  It 
is  not  only  an  absurd  belief,  it  is  an  outrage  upon  God.* 
What !  you  give  to  that  which  perishes  and  cannot 
sustain  itself,  the  name  of  Him  whose  glory  and  beauty 
are  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  !  " 

With  regard  to  the  second  charge,  that  of  rebellion, 
Justin  is  not  less  vigorous  in  his  defence.  Not  content 
with  establishing  that  the  kingdom  founded  by  Jesus 
Christ  is  a  purely  spiritual  kingdom,  the  progress  of 
which  need  give  no  apprehension  to  the  princes  of  this 
world,  he  clearly  enunciates  the  wise  principles  of  the 
primitive  Church  as  to  its  relation  to  constituted  autho- 
rities. After  adducing  the  words  of  Christ,  spoken  on 
the  payment  of  tribute  to  Caesar,  Justin  adds  :  "  We 
worship  God  alone,  but  with  this  exception,  we  joyfully 
obey  you ;  we  acknowledge  you  as  our  princes  and 
governors,   and  we   ask  for  you  that  to  the  sovereign 

*  'AXXa  Kal  e<p  vfipet  tov  6eov  yiveoQai  og  appijrov  d6%av  KCti  fxop<p>)v 
tX<»v.      ("  Apol.,"  I.  Opera,  p  57.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.        Ill 

power  with  which  you  are  invested,  may  be  added  the 
wisdom  to  make  a  right  use  of  it."  *  Justin  Martyr 
carries  his  argument  yet  further,  and  shows  that  no 
doctrine  is  better  adapted  than  the  Christian  doctrine 
to  maintain  order  and  tranquillity  in  the  state.  Human 
laws  are  powerless  as  a  restraint,  because  men  always 
hope  to  elude  them.  But  how  can  they  escape  from 
the  God  who  sees  all  things,  and  knows  not  only  what 
we  do  but  even  what  we  think  ?  As  to  the  crimes  laid 
to  the  charge  of  the  Christians,  Justin  contents  himself 
with  drawing  an  admirable  picture  of  their  life  and 
worship,  the  pure  colours  of  which  we  shall  often  have 
to  borrow  to  assist  our  representation  of  the  Christian 
life  and  practices  of  the  ancient  Church.  It  aims 
to  show  that  this  Crucified  One,  whom  the  Christians 
are  reproached  with  worshipping,  is  the  Divine  Word — 
incarnate,  sovereign  wisdom,  and  living  truth.  He 
quotes  some  of  His  most  beautiful  utterances,  and  asks 
that  they  be  tried,  not  by  mere  vulgar  prejudice,  but  at 
the  bar  of  the  human  conscience.  Unhappily  for  his 
design,  Justin  in  his  treatise  confounds  philosophical 
discussion  with  the  simple  apology  required  for  pre- 
sentation to  the  emperor.  He  enters  too  minutely  into 
details  of  doctrine,  and  into  the  analogy  between  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Incarnate  Word,  and  the  ancient  religions 
and  philosophies  which  contained  scattered  fragments 
of  the  same  truth.  Such  dogmatic  disquisitions  were 
incongruous  with  a  petition  to  Antoninus  and  Marcus 
Aurelius.  The  distinction  established  in  his  "  Apology  " 
between  Christianity  and  heresy  of  various  kinds,  which 
he  represents  as  a  counterfeit  of  the  Gospel  wrought  by 

*  '09tv  Qeov  fjitv  jxovov  7rpooicvvovfiev  ifxlv  Si  irpug  rd  a\\a  x^'povreg. 
("  Apol.,"  I.  Opera,  p.  64.) 


112  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Satan,  is  more  to  the  point  ;*  but  here  also  he  enters 
into  too  gre  it  detail.  In  spite  of  its  defects,  his  "Apology" 

could  not  but  produce  a  strong  impression  by  its  noble 
frankness  as  well  as  by  that  boldness  of  speech  which 
we  have  already  remarked,  and  which  never  falters. 
Profoundly  convinced  that  the  struggle  between  the 
Church  and  the  Empire  is  pre-eminently  a  struggle 
between  the  powers  .of  heaven  and  hell,  Justin  does 
not  hesitate  to  tell  the  emperors  that  they  are  unwit- 
tingly under  the  influence  of  evil  spirits.  "  We  are 
persuaded,"  he  says,  "that  your  conduct  towards  us  is 
inspired  by  the  impure  demons  who  seek  sacrifice  and 
homage  from  those  who  have  abjured  the  light  of 
reason. t  Virtuous  and  wise  princes,  such  as  you,  would 
not  of  themselves  act  contrary  to  reason.  Take  heed 
that  the  demons  vanquished  by  us  do  not  lead  you 
away  captive.  They  seek  to  have  you  for  their  slaves 
and  ministers."  %  Elsewhere  Justin  has  the  boldness 
to  say  to  the  supreme  authority,  which  for  so  many 
years  had  decreed  all  the  persecutions,  "  After  all, 
princes  who  prefer  an  idle  opinion  to  the  truth,  use 
a  power  only  like  that  of  robbers  in  lonely  places."  § 
In  other  words,  persecution  is  cowardly  murder. 

The  close  of  the  "Apology"  is  as  powerful  as  its  exor- 
dium. "  If  this  doctrine,"  says  Justin,  in  conclusion, 
"  appears  to  you  true  and  founded  on  reason,  pay  heed 
to  it.  If  contrariwise,  treat  it  as  a  thing  of  no  value, 
but  do  not  treat  as  enemies,  nor  condemn  to  death,  men 
who  have  done  you  no  wrong  ;  for  we  declare  to  you 
that  you  will  not  escape  the  judgment   of  God  if  you 

*  "  Apol.,"  I.  Opera,  p.  72  and  following, 
t   II*7reia/tfc-0a  d'  tic  oaifiovuv  $ai<\uv.      (Ibid.,  p.  59.) 
X   'Ayiovi£ovrai   yap     'txe,v     ?7tas   covXovg    Kai    V7rnptrag.        (Ibid., 
p.  61.) 

§    Oaav  Kai  \))<jrai  Iv  Iprjpla.    (Ibid.,  p.  59.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    EMPIRE.         113 

persist  in  injustice.  For  ourselves,  we  have  but  one 
cry  :  The  will  of  God  be  done."* 

If  Eusebius  is  to  be  credited,  Justin  Martyr  was  not 
the  principal  apologist  of  this  period  ;  by  his  statement 
the  Church  found  a  very  unlooked-for  defender  in  the 
emperor  himself.  In  truth,  according  to  this  historian, 
Antoninus  Pius  issued  a  decree  very  favourable  to  the 
new  religion.  The  emperor  is  said  not  to  have  been 
satisfied  with  forbidding  persecution  (as  in  his  letters  to 
Greece),  but  to  have  uttered  a  magnificent  eulogium  on 
the  Christians.  Unhappily,  this  decree  bears  no  impress 
of  authenticity.  Antoninus  Pius  cannot  be  regarded  as 
the  Constantine  of  his  age.  It  would  have  required 
more  courage  for  such  a  prince  in  the  second  century 
to  praise  a  hated  sect,  than  for  an  emperor  in  the  fourth 
century  to  embrace  a  religion  which  had  then  become 
powerful.  This  famous  decree  is,  then,  a  fictitious 
creation  ;  no  contemporary  writer  makes  the  slightest 
allusion  to  it.t 

If  the  Church  had  passed  some  tranquil  days  under 
Antoninus  Pius,  it  might  be  hoped  that  she  would 
enjoy  yet  greater  security  when  his  adopted  son 
succeeded  him  in  the  empire.  What  was  there  to  fear 
from  the  virtuous  Marcus  Aurelius  ?  Did  he  not  raise 
with  himself  to  the  throne,  the  purest  and  most  severe 
philosophy  of  the  ancient  world  ?  He  was  the  model 
emperor,  and  Gibbon  does  not  hesitate  to  represent 
his  reign  as  having  given  to  the  human  race  the  highest 
possible  sum  of  happiness.     In  the  eyes  of  the  historian, 

*  Ouk  kiuptvZtaQe  ttjv  tcrofifvijv  rov  6eov  Kpiaiv.  ("Apologia," 
I.  p.  99.) 

f  This  decree  is  found  in  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  IV.  c.  13.  It  is 
also  to  be  read  at  the  close  of  the  "  Apology  "  of  Justin  Martyr. 
Melito,  to  whom  Eusebius  refers,  mentions  only  the  letters  sent 
to  the  towns  of  Greece. 


114  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

this  was  the  Millennium  of  the  old  world.  Though 
such  an  estimate  is  a  gross  exaggeration,  it  is  neverthe- 
less indisputable  that  Marcus  Aurelius  was  a  great 
prince.  ''There  was  no  difference,"  says  Capitolinus, 
"  between  his  government  and  that  of  a  free  city.  He 
was  in  all  things  guided  by  a  wise  moderation,  whether 
in  warning  men  from  evil,  or  inciting  them  to  good. 
He  knew  how  to  make  the  evil  good,  and  the  good  ex- 
cellent.* His  custom  was  to  visit  every  crime  with  a 
lighter  penalty  than  that  determined  by  the  laws, 
though  he  could  show  himself  inexorable  in  the  case  of 
men  guilty  of  grave  and  flagrant  offences. "t  One  can- 
not but  wonder  on  what  grounds  Christians  were 
classed  by  this  so  wise  and  virtuous  emperor  among 
those  hardened  offenders,  in  whose  case  he  departed 
from  his  accustomed  leniency.  Our  surprise  is  re- 
doubled as  we  read  his  "  Meditations,"  fragments  often 
rising  to  sublimity,  written  or  dictated  in  the  rude 
life  of  camps,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
Seneca,  but  of  a  logical  Seneca,  who  carries  out  his 
principle  even  to  the  imperial  purple.  The  slave 
Epictetus  shows  no  loftier  disdain  for  the  false  god 
which  the  world  worships,  than  this  crowned  philoso- 
pher, who  possesses  in  profusion  all  that  the  world  can 
give,  but  whose  heart  sits  loose  to  it  all.  He  has 
gathered  from  the  culture  of  his  time  all  that  was  most 
elevated  and  pure ;  he  breathes  that  spirit  of  humanity 
by  which  Seneca  is  so  distinguished,  which  relaxes 
the  rough  Roman  severity,  and  which,  if  it  is  not 
Christian    charity,    borrows   from    it,   or   is    indirectly 

*  "Cum  populo  autem  non  aliter  agit  quam  est  actum  sub 
civitate  libera."     ("  Hist  Ang.,"  p.  27.) 

t  "  Quamvis  nonnunquam  contra  manifestos  et  gravium 
criminum  reos  inexorabilis  permaneret."    .(Ibid.,  p.  32.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE   EMPIRE.         115 

inspired  by  it.  What  cause,  then,  made  Marcus  Aurelius 
a  persecutor  of  the  Church,  and  led  him  to  act  towards 
it  with  greater  cruelty  than  even  a  Commodus  or 
Heliogabalus  ? 

We  must  first  of  all  admit  that  under  his  reign  the 
passions  of  the  people,  so  easily  excited,  broke  out  into 
singular  violence  against  the  Christians.  Plagues, 
which  the  best  government  was  powerless  to  avert, 
desolated  the  empire  again  and  again.  Rome  was 
visited  with  a  terrible  inundation  of  the  Titter.  Earth- 
quakes and  epidemics  succeeded  each  other.  War  was 
raging  with  unwonted  fury  in  the  East  and  West. 
Marcus  Aurelius  was  kept  in  constant  conflict  with 
the  Germanic  tribes  bordering  on  the  empire,  and 
at  one  time  the  threatened  danger  appeared  to  him  so 
great,  that  he  enrolled  even  the  gladiators  in  the  army. 
Such  a  measure  was  sure  to  alarm  and  irritate  the 
Roman  people,  as  interfering  writh  one  of  their  favourite 
pastimes. 

Gloom  and  terror  oppressed  all  hearts.  There  was  a 
vague  presentiment  that  the  dominion  of  Rome  would 
expire  on  the  confines  of  the  German  forests.*  Nothing 
is  more  cruel  than  superstition  moved  to  fear.  The 
excitement  produced  by  alarm,  in  a  people  without  true 
religion,  turns  to  the  account  of  fanaticism.  Hence 
the  outburst  of  fierce  passions  in  many  of  the  cities. 
To  refuse  the  blood  of  the  Christians,  it  would  have 
been  necessary  to  resist  the  voice  of  the  multitude — 
that  most  imperious  of  all  voices — and  to  resist  it  when 
its  demand  was  legitimate  according  to  the  constitution 
of  the  empire  ;  for  wre  must  never  forget  that  the  legal 
ban  laid  upon   Christianity  had   not  for  a  single   day 

*  Milman,  "  History  of  Christianity,"  Vol.  I.  p.  333. 


Il6  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

been  removed.  Marcus  Aurelius  found  also  too  many 
reasons  for  drifting  with  the  popular  current  of  hatred 
to  the  Christians,  for  him  to  desire  to  spread  the  shield 
of  his  protection  over  a  universally  accursed  sect.  His 
book  of  "  Meditations,"  in  spite  of  its  elevation  and 
philosophic  tranquillity,  unfolds  to  us  the  secret  motives 
of  this  aversion.  His  biography  accurately  epitomises 
them  in  these  words  :  "  He  was  of  a  disposition  so  abso- 
lutely tranquil,  that  his  features  never  expressed  either 
sadness  or»joy  ;  he  was  a  perfect  votary  of  the  stoical 
philosophy,  which  he  had  received  from  the  best  mas- 
ters and  had  himself  fully  embraced."  *  Stoicism  and 
Christianity  were  necessarily  and  inevitably  antago- 
nistic. Two  doctrines,  apparently  somewhat  akin,  but 
in  reality  profoundly  dissimilar,  come  into  more  violent 
collision  than  those  which  are  in  all  points  opposed. 
The  stoical  school,  the  refuge  of  souls  who  mistook 
pride  for  greatness,  pretended  to  be  the  restorer  of  the 
ancient  world.  It  encountered  in  its  path  a  despised 
sect,  which,  while  enwrapping  itself  as  it  seemed  in  the 
mantle  of  stoicism,  and  uttering  maxims  no  less  austere, 
succeeded  where  stoicism  had  failed,  and  robbed  it  of  its 
influence.  Christianity,  from  its  very  first  contact  with 
stoicism,  overthrew  the  scaffolding  so  laboriously  reared, 
and  opposed  the  heroism  of  holiness  to  its  cold  and 
boastful  virtue.  Stoicism  was  after  all  but  Roman 
pharisaism.  It  was,  we  freely  admit,  pharisaism  free 
from  hypocrisy,  austere  as  that  of  Saul  of  Tarsus ; 
but  its  vital  breath  at  Rome,  as  at  Jerusalem,  was 
an  incurable  pride,  and  it  was  the  natural  enemy 
of  a  religion  which  had  its  basis  in  humility. 
Pharisaism,  whether  seated  in  the  chair  of  the  doctor, 

*  "Philosophise  deditus  stoicce."     ("Hist.  Ang.,"  p.  29.; 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE   EMPIRE.         117 

or  on  the  throne  of  the  empire,  acts  infallibly  the  part 
of  the  persecutor. 

We  have  no  wish  to  detract  at  all  from  the  moral 
greatness  of  Marcus  Aurelius  because  he  persecuted 
the  Church.  We  recognise  the  loftiness  of  his  intellect, 
his  conscientious  efforts  to  realise  the  ideal  proposed  to 
himself,  and  the  nobleness  of  the  sentiments  he  ex- 
pressed in  a  style  somewhat  stiff  and  pretentious,  as 
was  his  whole  individuality.  His  ideal,  however,  had 
no  true  analogy  with  the  Christian  ideal ;  it  was  indeed,  in 
almost  every  point,  diametrically  opposed  to  it.  As  the 
basis  of  his  doctrines,  Marcus  Aurelius  had  accepted  all 
the  commonplaces  of  the  stoical  school  without  modifi- 
cation. He  shared  the  scorn  of  that  school  for  meta- 
physics and  for  all  questions  which  had  no  practical 
bearing.  He  congratulated  himself  on  having  early 
learnt  to  contemn  the  higher  philosophy.  Even  from 
this  point  of  view,  the  Christian  doctrine,  which,  to  the 
mind  of  the  most  simple  believer,  is  full  of  metaphysical 
mystery,  could  not  but  excite  his  antipathy.  He  ac- 
cepted unreservedly  the  fatalistic  pantheism  of  the 
school  of  the  Stoics.  "  Represent  to  thyself,"  he  says, 
"  the  world  as  an  animal  composed  of  one  sole  sub- 
stance, and  one  single  soul.  The  substance  of  the 
universe  is  obedient,  and  capable  of  taking  any  form. 
The  reason  which  governs  it  has  no  principle  leading  it 
to  do  evil,  for  it  has  no  malice  ;  it  commits  no  wrong 
and  can  receive  no  hurt.  According  to  the  laws  of  this 
reason  everything  goes  on  in  the  world."*  These  words 
are  a  commentary  on  Seneca's  famous  saying :  Fata  nos 
duciint.  This  fatalistic  pantheism  led  logically  to  a 
proud  acquiescence  in  the  decrees  of  destiny.    The  sage 

*  MapKov  Avrovivov  tig  tavrbv  BifiXia.  ("Meditations  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,"  VI.  1.) 


Il8  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

set  before  him  the  goal  of  insensibility  or  absolute  im- 
passibility. "Abandon  thyself  without  resistance 
to  the  Parcae,"  said  Marcus  Aurelius,  "  and  let  them 
weave  into  thy  life  whatsoever  they  please.*  Holiness 
consists  in  loving  that  which  comes  from  destiny.t  Be 
like  a  promontory  against  which  the  billows  break. "J 
The  zeal  of  the  martyr,  marching  like  a  victor  to  meet 
death,  bore  no  resemblance  to  this  frigid  tranquillity  of 
the  Stoic  sage.  "The  soul,"  said  the  philosophic 
emperor,  "  ought  to  be  ready  when  the  moment  comes, 
either  to  quit  the  body,  to  be  extinguished  or 
dissolved,  or  to  remain  a  while  longer  with  the 
body.  But  this  readiness  must  proceed  from  calm 
reason,  and  not  from  mere  obstinacy  as  among  the 
Christians.  It  must  be  arrived  at  with  reflection 
and  dignity,  so  as  to  convince  others  without  declama- 
tion.'^ Thus  the  Christians,  dying  for  their  faith,  were 
but  fanatics  in  the  eyes  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  He  speaks 
sometimes  of  the  gods  in  pious  accents,  but  it  is  an 
illogical  tribute  ;  for  at  heart  he  does  not  believe  in  them, 
and  doubts  of  their  existence,  and  afuture  life  is  to  him  far 
from  a  thing  of  certainty.  "  Souls,"  he  says,"  melt  away, 
absorbed  into  the  generative  power  of  the  universe.  We 
must  say  of  all  events  :  '  This  comes  of  God,  this  is  an 
effect  of  the  natural  sequence  of  things.'  "||  The  law  of 
nature,  natural  sequence — this  is  the  sole  divinity  re- 
cognised by  him ;  and  when  he  seems  to  render  homage 
to  less  impersonal  deities,  it  is  a  concession  to  the  estab- 
lished religion,  or  rather,  perhaps,  to  that  inward  voice, 
which  will  never  be  wholly  stifled.  His  true  belief  is 
expressed  in  the  following  words  :  "  Nature  !  all  comes 

*  "  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius,"  IV.  34. 
+  Ibid.,  XII.  1.  I  Ibid.,  IV.  41. 

§  Ibid.,  XI.  3.  II  Ibid,  IV.  2. 


BOOK  I. — THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  EMPIRE.    HO, 

from  thee,  all  is  of  thee,  all  returns  to  thee."*  It  would 
seem  as  if,  at  times,  Marcus  Aurelius  had  grasped 
unwittingly  the  conception  of  Christian  charity.  But 
it  is  only  the  expression  of  his  natural  benevolence,  and 
that  benevolence  carries  with  it  a  large  admixture  of 
contempt.  "  How  can  we  be  irritated,"  he  says,  "  with 
those  who  know  not  what  is  truly  good  or  truly  evil  ?"f 
The  pardon  of  offences  is  with  him  only  one  form  of 
stoical  impassiveness.  "  A  man  conducts  himself  ill ; 
what  matters  it  to  me  ?  It  is  his  affair  ;  his  actions  and 
affections  concern  himself  alone."!  Marcus  Aurelius 
nobly  contradicts  himself  in  these  remarkable  words  ; 
"Men  are  made  for  one  another;  rebuke  them,  then, 
in  the  wrong,  or  uphold  them  in  the  right. "§ 

We  know  well  that  nothing  so  bitterly  excited  the 
hostility  of  the  wise  men  of  Judaea  to  Christianity, 
as  the  idea  of  salvation,  of  grace,  and  the  offer  of  divine 
pardon.  This  could  not  fail  also  to  prejudice  the  phi- 
losophic emperor  against  the  new  religion.  In  his  view, 
faith  in  one's  self  was  the  great  essential.  The  wise  man 
is  to  seek  in  his  own  heart  the  remedy  for  evil;  he  is  to 
rely  entirely  upon  himself,  to  repudiate  with  disdain  all 
external  aid.  "  It  is  enough  for  us,"  says  the  author  of 
the  "Meditations,"  "to  believe  in  the  spirit  within  us, 
and  to  honour  it  with  sincere  devotion.  ||  The  wise  man 
lives  in  intimate  familiarity  with  Him  whose  temple  is 
within  him.  This  is  the  divinity  which  makes  him  an 
athlete  for  the  grandest  of  combats. H  The  bodily  life 
is  as  a  river  running  on  ;   in   the  soul  all  is  a  vapour, 

*  'Ek  gov  TTcivra,  iv  ooi  iravTct,  elg  <rt    vruvra.     ("  Meditations  of 
Marcus  Aurelius,"  IV.  23.1 
t  Ibid.,  II.  3.         t  Ibid.,  V.  26.        §  Ibid.,  VIII.  59. 

|!  'ApKeX  Trpog  fiopw  rai  IvCuv  tavrov   dainoin  eli>cu,  icai  tovtov  yi>T)(riu>$ 
QipaTTtueiv.     (Ibid.,  II.  13.) 
•T  Ibid.,  III.  4. 


120  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

a  vision;  life  is  a  warfare,  a  traveller's  sojourn;  post- 
humous fame  is  oblivion.  What  is  there  then 
which  can  serve  thee  as  a  guide?  One  thing  alone — 
philosophy;  and  philosophy  consists  in  preserving  the 
spirit  within  us  from  all  ignominy.*  In  the  midst  of  this 
pollution  and  darkness,  in  this  current  which  is  carry- 
ing away  matter  and  time,  what  is  there  worthy  of  such 
great  esteem?  I  see  not.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must 
console  ourselves,  and  await  death  without  impatience 
at  its  delay,  on  this  two-fold  consideration:  first,  that 
nothing  will  happen  to  me  which  is  not  in  harmony 
with  the  nature  of  all  things ;  second,  that  it  is  not  in 
my  power  to  do  anything  against  my  God  and  the 
spirit  that  is  within  me."t 

We  can  well  understand  how  absurd,  on  such  a  system 
as  this,  must  have  appeared  the  doctrine  of  redemption. 
According  to  his  master,  Maximus,  Marcus  Aurelius 
said:  "Man  must  present  in  his  person  the  image 
of  natural  rectitude  rather  than  of  reparation. "J  It 
would  have  been  impossible  to  define  more  sharply  the 
opposition  existing  between  Christianity  and  Stoicism. 
"  Consider,"  said  Marcus  Aurelius  in  the  same  connec- 
tion, "consider  that  at  every  hour  of  the  day  thou  art 
bound  to  show  the  firmness  of  character  becoming  a  man 
and  a  Roman.  Prove  thyself,  to  the  divine  government 
which  is  within  thee,  a  manly  being,  ripened  by  years,  a 
Roman,  an  emperor,  a  soldier  at  his  post  awaiting  the 
trumpet-call. "§ 

Thus  seeking  salvation  within  himself,  Marcus  Aure- 
lius believed  he  had  found  it.  But  here,  again,  he  is 
happily  illogical,  and  allows  some  expressions  of  regret 

*  "  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius,"  IV.  23.  f  Ibid. 

X  ' A£ia<TTp6(pov    paXkov    i]     ciopOov/xivov.       (Ibid.,  I.  l6.) 
§  Tlaatjg    wpag    <f>povTiZ,i    (TTi(3apa>g    <jjg    Pwfiaiog    Kcd     dpprjv        (Ibid., 
III.  5.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.  121 

to  escape  him,  though  even  in  their  modesty  there  lurks  a 
degree  of  pride.  "  O  my  soul,"  he  exclaims,  "  will  the 
day  ever  come  when  thou  wilt  be  good,  simple,  always  the 
same  ?  Wilt  thou  ever  taste  the  blessedness  of  loving 
and  cherishing  men  ?  Wilt  thou  ever  be  rich  enough  in 
thyself  to  have  no  want,  no  regret?"*  This  conscious- 
ness of  a  relative  imperfection  must  not  be  confounded 
with  repentance.  "  He  who  sins,"  again  says  the 
writer  of  the  "  Meditations,"  "  sins  against  himself."t 
His  writings  generally  evidence  an  inward  satisfaction 
with  his  own  virtue.  "  How  hast  thou  comported  thyself 
unto  this  day?  "  he  asks  himself;  "  consider  how  com- 
plete is  the  history  of  thy  life,  how  thou  hast  fulfilled 
thine  office.  Call  to  mind  all  the  noble  actions  which 
have  been  done  by  thee,  the  many  pleasures  and  pains 
thou  hast  despised,  the  honours  thou  hast  neglected,  the 
ingrates  thou  hast  treated  with  benignity. "J  The 
familiar  prayer:  "  Lord,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as 
other  men,"  rises  perpetually  to  the  lips  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  in  an  infinite  variety  of  forms. §  How  must 
the  wise  man  and  the  just,  who  can  utter  this  proud 
challenge  to  heaven,  be  filled  with  scorn  and  indignation 
to  hear  all  around  him  the  broken  cries  of  true  peni- 
tents, who  ask  for  mercy,  and  protest  by  their  groans 
and  tears  against  the  proud  self-righteousness  magnify- 
ing itself  by  their  side  !  If  the  Pharisee  is  all-powerful 
and  can  crush  the  Publican  with  a  word,  that  word 
will  be  quickly  spoken.  Here,  then,  is  the  explanation 
of  the  persecution  of  the  Church  under  the  wise  and 
virtuous  Marcus  Aurelius.  We  may  finally  remark  that 
perhaps  no  emperor  was  ever  more  fully  possessed  by 

*  "  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius,"  XI.  I. 
f  'O'ct/xapTciviov  tavry  a/iaprdvci.      (Ibid.) 
X  Ibid.,  VI.  3. 

§  We  find  this  prayer  almost  word  for  word.     (Ibid.,  I.  13.1 

9 


122  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  idea  of  the  pagan  power  of  the  State,  or  more 
proudly  trampled  on  the  rights  of  the  individual  con- 
science. He  was  fortified  in  this  view  by  his  stoical 
pantheism.  "The  end  of  reasonable  beings,"  he  said, 
"  is  to  conform  to  whatever  is  imposed  by  the  reason 
and  law  of  the  most  ancient  and  honourable  city  and 
government."*  The  same  legislation  which  is  sup- 
posed to  govern  the  universe,  sacrificing  the  part  to  the 
whole,  reappears  in  the  State.  "Just  as  thou  thyself 
art  a  complement  of  the  social  system,  so  each  of  thy 
actions  serves  as  a  complement  to  thy  social  life.  Every 
act  of  thine,  which  has  no  relation,  either  immediate  or 
indirect,  to  the  common  end,  brings  confusion  into  thy 
life,  and  takes  away  from  its  unity.  It  renders  thee 
factious,  just  as  if  thou  shouldst  break  the  unity  of  citi- 
zens in  a  nation. t  That  which  is  not  useful  to  the  swarm 
is  not  of  use  to  the  bee. "J  It  is  quite  evident  that  the 
philosophical  views  of  Marcus  Aurelius  were  closely 
associated  with  his  maxims  of  government,  and  both 
alike  led  to  depreciation  of  the  individual  conscience. 
The  quotations  we  have  made  from  his  works  seem  to 
us  fully  to  explain  his  attitude  towards  the  Church. § 

We  find  among  the  laws  of  the  empire,  which  are  re- 
ferred to  his  reign,  one  which,  without  distinctly 
specifying  the  Christians,  is  evidently  designed  for  them. 
It  shows  the  emperor's  fixed  intention  to  strengthen 
the  religion  of  the  State.  .  .  "  The  divine  Marcus 
decreed,"  says  Modestinus,  "that  if  anyone,  by  any 
superstitious  practice  whatever,  should  alarm  the  sus- 

*  TkXog  \oytxStv  %u)(ov  to  67T£(tO«{.  roj  Trjg  7r6\f(og  i:ai  ttoXitl'miq  rijg 
7rpiG(3vTaTric.     i"  Meditations  of  Marcus  Aurelius,''  II.  16.) 

f  "Q(77rfj0    iV    0>tyt(>>    6     TO    KO.9'    avTOV    [XfpOg    ?)V(7TafllVOQ  O.7T0    TiJQ    TOiaVTIJQ 

cv/jKpiovdng.     (Ibid.,  IX.  231.  J  Ibid.,  VI.  54. 

§  Neander's  "Church  History"  (Vol.  I.  pp.  101-103)  seems  to  us 
to  idealise  Marcus  Aurelius  too  much,  and  not  to  take  sufficient 
account  of  the  real  nature  of  his  principles. 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.         123 

ceptible  minds  of  men,  he  should  be  banished  to  some 
island.''*  According  to  a  very  ancient  commentary,  the 
penalty  of  beheadal  was  substituted  for  that  of  banish- 
ment.t  Possibly  it  is  correct  to  refer,  as  Neander  does, 
to  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  decree  mentioned 
in  the  "  Acts  of  the  Martyrdom  of  St.  Symphorian," 
according  to  which,  various  tortures  were  to  be  inflicted 
on  the  Christians  who  refused  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
in  order  to  shake  their  constancy.^  If  such  was  the 
mind  and  will  of  the  emperor,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  to 
what  a  height  of  violence  the  fury  of  a  fanatical  people 
might  rise.  Melito  of  Sardis  speaks  of  vile  informers, 
who,  taking  advantage,  doubtless,  of  these  severe  de- 
crees, entered  the  houses  of  the  Christians  by  night  or 
day,  and  gave  them  up  to  pillage. §  The  same  Father 
tells  us  that  those  who  denounced  the  Christians  were 
promised  by  the  magistrates  possession  of  the  goods  of 
their  victims,  and  that  they  commenced  proceedings  by 
anticipating  for  themselves  the  reward  of  information.  || 

*  "  Si  quis  aliquid  fecerit,  quo  leves  hominum  animi  superstitione 
numinis  terrerentur,  divus  Marcus  hujusmodi  homines  in  insulam 
relegari  rescripsit."  ("  Dig  ,"  Bk.  XLVIII.,  xix.  1,  30.) 

t  Gieseler,  "  Church  History,"  Vol.  I.  p.  174. 

*  Comperimus  ab  his,  qui  se  temporibus  nostris  Christianos 
dicunt  legum  praecepta  violari.  Hos  comprehensos  nisi  diis  nostris 
scrificaverunt  diversis  punite  cruciatibus."  This  decree  bears,  in 
the  Acts  of  Saint  Symphorian,  the  name  of  Aurelianus,  but  this  is 
an  evident  mistake,  for  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Symphorian  did  not 
take  place  under  Aurelian.  Beside,  the  manner  in  which  Christians 
are  spoken  of,  carries  us  back  to  an  early  period  of  their  religion. 
It  was  very  easy  to  confound  the  two  words,  Aurelius  and  Aure- 
lianus ;  this  decree  may  then  be  attributed  to  Marcus  Aurelius.  (See 
Neander,  "  Church  History")  [Vol.  I.  p.  149,  Bohn's  Ed.]  Gieseler 
disputes  this  opinion  on  the  ground  of  the  unusual  form  of  the 
decree,  as  if  it  might  not  easily  have  been  inexactly  reproduced 
in  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs." 

§  Oi  yap  avaiSeig  avKotyavTai,  ti)v  Ik  twv  hciTCiynaTMV  txovrig  a<pop}ir)v 
(pavipCJQ  \r}<jTti>ovcn.     (Melito  in  "  Apol.  ad  Euseb,"  IV.  26.) 
j|  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacrae,"  Vol.  I.  p.  128. 


124  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

The  persecution  thus  aggravated  prevailed  alike  in  East 
and  West.  The  Christians  endeavoured  anew  to  present 
their  defence,  and  to  enlighten  the  minds  of  their  oppo- 
nents. With  the  Apologies  of  Theophilus  of  Antioch 
and  of  Tatian  we  do  not  now  concern  ourselves,  because 
they  were  essentially  doctrinal  treatises.  Five  Apologies 
were  presented  to  Marcus  Aurelius;  that  of  Justin, 
which  is  erroneously  supposed  to  have  been  the  first, 
and  those  of  Miltiades,  Athenagoras,  Apollinaris,  and 
Melito  of  Sardis.  The  last  of  these,  after  pointing  out 
the  violence  of  the  informers,  simply  asks  if  these  in- 
famous men  are  not  abusing  the  name  of  the  emperor. 
He  cannot  believe,  he  says,  "  that  a  decree  which  would 
not  have  been  sanctioned  for  the  treatment  of  barbarous 
enemies,  can  have  been  passed  against  unoffending  citi- 
zens."* Melito  then  traces  back  the  new  religion  to  its 
source,  showing  that  though  it  appeared  originally  in  a 
foreign  land,  it  received  the  rights  of  citizenship  at 
Rome  under  Augustus.  It  had  been  a  pledge  of  good  to  the 
emperor  so  long  as  it  prevailed  in  the  capital  of  the  em- 
pire. The  greatness  and  glory  of  the  land  had  increased, 
and  thus  the  honour  of  Rome  was  interested  in  the 
progress  of  Christianity. t  Persecution  dated  from  the 
bad  emperors — Nero  and  Domitian;  it  was  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  sound  traditions  of  the  imperial  govern- 
ment; let  there  be  then  a  return  to  the  wise  moderation 
of  Augustus,  and  the  example  of  Adrian  and  Antoninus 
Pius.  Melito's  argument  was  not  wanting  in  skill.  It 
justified  the  Christians  from  the  dangerous  charge  of 
drawing  down  upon  the  world  the  scourges  by  which  it 

*  Kaivov  rovro  Sia.Tayi.ia  o  /.irjdk  Kara  j3apj3ap<ov  Trp'swei  TroXtpitov. 
(Routh  "  Reliq.  Sacrae,"  p.  116.) 

f  MaXiora  ry  ay  (3aai\eia  a'iawv  ayaObv,  tKTore  yap  tig  peya  icai 
Xapnrpbv  to  pwpaiwv  rjv^'jQi]  KpdroQ.      (Ibid.,  p.  I  if). 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.  125 

was  desolated.  But  it  must  in  all  candour  be  admitted 
that  it  exaggerated  the  favour  once  enjoyed  by  Chris- 
tianity, when  it  asserted  that  it  had  been  placed  on 
the  same  level  as  other  religions.*  It  was  at  once  its 
glory  and  its  peril  that  it  ever  formed  an  exception  to 
the  universal  toleration. 

We  shall  not  enlarge  upon  the  Apology  of  Athena- 
goras,  because  it  is  overladen  with  philosophical  argu- 
mentation. The  introduction  is  not  wanting  in  ability  or 
dignity.  "  The  subjects  of  your  vast  empire,  most  noble 
sovereign,  differ  in  customs  and  laws.  No  imperial 
decree,  no  menace  held  forth  by  you,  prevents  them  from 
freely  following  the  usages  of  their  ancestors,  even 
though  those  usages  be  ridiculous. f  The  Egyptians 
may  adore  cats,  crocodiles,  serpents,  and  dogs.  You  and 
the  laws  pronounce  the  man  impious  who  acknowledges 
no  god,  and  you  admit  that  every  man  ought  to  worship 
the  god  of  his  choice,  in  order  that  he  may  be  deterred 
from  evil  by  the  fear  of  the  divinity.  Why  then  make 
exception  in  the  sole  case  of  the  Christians  ?  Why 
are  they  excluded  from  that  universal  peace,  which 
the  world  enjoys  under  your  rule  ?" 

Athenagoras,  like  Justin,  complains  that  vague  report 
and  the  mere  name  of  Christian  are  made  sufficient 
ground  for  condemnation.  He  demands  a  bond  fide 
inquiry,  and  proceeds,  in  default  of  that,  to  present  a 
refutation  of  the  three  main  charges  of  atheism,  murder, 
and  infamy,  perpetually  laid  against  the  Christians. J:  If 
these  crimes  are  proved,  Athenagoras  urges  that  they  be 

*  'Hv  teed  ol  7rpoyovol  aov  irpbg  rciig  dWaig  Qpijtrictiaig  irif-iricav.    (Routh 

*  Reliq.  Sacrae,"  p.  117.) 

f  Ovctlg  avrCov  vofup  kcu  0o/3</j  Slicrjg,  kciv  yeXoia  ?},  /</}  arkpyiiv  ra  7rdrpia 
iipytTdi.  (Athenagoras,  in  the  Cologne  edition  of  "Justin  Martyr," 
p.  I.)  %  Ibid.,  pp.  4,5.  . 


126  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

visited  with  severest  punishment;  but  let  the  cause  at 
least  be  heard,  and  let  justice  weigh  in  an  even  balance 
accusers  and  accused. 

In  order  to  disprove  the  charge  of  atheism,  Athena- 
goras  enters  upon  a  long  philosophical  discussion, 
which  exhibits  a  singular  blending  of  Christianity 
and  Platonism.  Upon  the  second  head,  his  reasoning 
is  more  close  and  conclusive.  "I  know,"  he  says, 
"that  our  justification  is  already  established  by  what 
I  have  previously  said.  You  cannot  but  believe 
that  men  who  keep  their  eye  steadily  fixed  upon  God, 
as  the  standard  of  all  goodness,  that  they  may  them- 
selves become  holy  and  unblameable,  will  shrink  from 
even  the  very  thought  of  crime.  If  we  believed 
only  in  the  present  life,  we  might  be  suspected  of 
serving  flesh  and  blood,  avarice  and  lust.  But  we 
know  that  by  night  as  well  as  by  day,  we  have  God  as 
the  witness  of  our  words  and  thoughts;  we  know  that 
our  God  is  light,  and  that  He  reads  the  very  secrets  of 
our  hearts.  We  believe  that  after  this  earthly  life  there 
begins  for  us  either  a  better  life  or  a  miserable  existence 
amidst  devouring  flames,  if  we  have  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  the  wicked."*  Athenagoras  eloquently  points 
out  the  strangeness  of  the  part  enacted  by  the  accusers 
of  the  Church,  who,  covered  as  they  themselves  are  with 
all  infamy,  yet  dare  to  call  in  question  the  purity  of  the 
Christians.  Is  there  not  here  an  application  of  the  old 
saying:  "The  harlot  accuses  the  woman  of  modest 
life  "  ?t  The  harlot  is  pagan  society  with  all  its  impuri- 
ties; the  modest  woman  is  the  chaste  spouse  of  Christ. 
As  to  those  feasts  of  Thyestes,  to  which  the  celebration 
of  the  Eucharist  was  likened,  Athenagoras  appeals  on 

*  Athenagoras,  Cologne  edition  of  "Justin  Martyr,"  p.  35. 
f  'H  iropvT]  rt)v  oio<ppova.     (Ibid.,  p.  37.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.         127 

the  one  hand  to  the  horror  of  the  Christians  at  the 
shedding  of  blood,  which  kept  them  away  from  the 
representations  in  the  circus,  and  on  the  other  hand  to 
their  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  which 
would  be  utterly  incompatible  with  any  such  abomi- 
nation. This  Apology  is  remarkable,  in  that  the 
defence  of  the  lives  of  the  Christians  is  presented 
from  the  doctrinal  point  of  view ;  but  we  do  not  find  in 
it  the  same  firmness  of  language  as  in  that  of  Justin,  and 
it  contains  too  many  pompous  eulogies  on  the  emperors. 
Of  the  Apology  presented  to  Marcus  Aurelius  by 
Apollinaris,  Bishop  of  Hieropolis,  no  portion  remains.* 
That  of  Justin  we  possess  entire.  It  abounds  more 
than  the  former  in  philosophical  digressions,  which 
would  have  been  more  appropriate  in  an  apologetic 
treatise  than  in  a  petition  to  the  emperor.  We  have 
already  mentioned  the  circumstance  which  called  it 
forth.  A  question  had  arisen  about  the  condemnation 
of  a  Christian  woman,  who  had  been  brought  by  her 
husband  before  the  magistrates,  because  she  was  re- 
solved to  abandon  the  impure  life  which  was  the  rule  of 
pagan  society.  Justin  renews  his  protestations  against 
the  summary  judgments  passed  without  sufficient  in- 
formation against  the  Christians.  He  instances  one  of 
their  most  treacherous  calumniators,  the  philosopher 
Crescens,  whose  base  machinations  were  subsequently 
to  bring  about  his  own  death.  Against  the  false  dealings 
of  this  man,  he  adduces  the  noble  words  of  Socrates  :  "  If 
you  respect  man,  respect  truth  yet  more."t  It  was 
urged  against  the  Christians  that,  if  they  courted  death, 
they  had   only  to   commit  suicide,  and  they  would  all 

*  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustribus,"c.  xxvi.    Eusebius,  "  H.  E.," 
Bk.  IV.  c.  27. 

I  Justin,  "  Opera,"  p.  42. 


128  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

the  sooner  come  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  God.  Justin 
nobly  replies  that  a  voluntary  death  is  an  impious 
death,  and  an  act  of  rebellion  against  the  law  of  God. 
It  was  for  obedience  to  that  law  that  the  Christians 
were  willing  to  fall  a  sacrifice.  "  When  questioned, 
we  reply  frankly,  because  conscious  of  our  innocence, 
and  because  it  is,  in  our  view,  the  highest  impiety 
not  to  be  in  all  things  faithful  to  the  truth,  in  order  to 
please  God.  We  thus  seek  to  disabuse  you  of  your 
erroneous  ideas  about  us."* 

To  the  objection  drawn  from  the  sufferings  of  Chris- 
tians by  those  to  whom  all  suffering  is  a  mark  of  the 
divine  anger,  Justin  replied  boldly  that  if  the  world 
was  still  preserved,  it  was  for  the  sake  of  these  despised 
men,  the  reproach  of  the  empire,  and  yet,  in  truth,  its 
safeguard  ;  for  they  are  like  the  ten  righteous  men  whose 
presence  would  have  saved  Sodom.  "Without  them, 
neither  wicked  men  nor  evil  angels  would  any  longer  exist. 
Without  them,  it  would  not  be  possible  for  you  to  do  that 
which  you  do  at  the  inspiration  of  demons;  the  fireof  judg- 
ment would,  but  for  them,  consume  all,  without  dis- 
tinction, "t  The  courageous  Christian  does  not  hesitate 
to  summon  his  persecutors  themselves  to  the  bar  of 
this  terrible  judgment.  Then,  having  established  the 
superiority  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  over  all  other 
doctrines,  he  finds  one  final  argument  in  the  objection 
drawn  from  the  sufferings  of  the  martyrs.  "  See 
Socrates,"  he  exclaims;  "no  one  has  believed  in  his 
words  so  strongly  as  to  be  willing  to  die  for  his  doc- 
trine ;  but  for  Jesus  Christ,  whom  Socrates  but  dimly 
discerned,  men  die  every  day,  and  these  not   only  wise 

*  '  A(Tij3tQ  ce  rjyovfisvoi  /<>)  kcitu  Travra  d\r]9eveiv.     (Justin,  "  Opera," 
P-43-i 

f  'E7T£t  ti  m)  tovto  yv,  ovk  av  ovce  ravra  tirnrottlv.      (Ibid.,  p.  45.) 


BOOK   I. — THE   CHURCH   AND   THE   EMPIRE.        129 

men  and  philosophers,  but  ignorant  men  and  artisans.* 
These  are  the  athletes  and  the  heroes  who  should  be 
admired  rather  than  trodden  under  foot."  Justin  con- 
cludes his  "Apology"  with  a  request  that  the  emperor 
would  make  it  public  ;  he  has  confidence  in  the  power  of 
truth  upon  the  soul  of  man.  "  Is  there  need  to  appeal  to 
any  other  judge  than  conscience  ?  "  he  exclaims.  This 
is  to  the  apologist  the  court  of  final  appeal ;  at  this  tri- 
bunal, the  decrees  of  Caesar  himself  may  be  revoked. 
His  conclusion  is  as  follows  :  "All  that  is  in  our  power 
we  have  done  for  the  defence  of  the  truth.  May 
all  men  prove  themselves  worthy  to  know  it !  May 
your  decision,  O  princes,  whicn  after  all  falls  upon 
yourselves,  bear  the  impress  of  piety  and  justice. "t 

This  language  failed  to  convince  Marcus  Aurelius, 
and  persecution  went  on  with  unabated  cruelty.  Some 
writers  of  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  have  asserted  that 
in  the  war  between  the  Marcomanni  and  the  Quadi,  in 
the  year  174,  the  Roman  army,  afflicted  with  a  terrible 
drought,  was  saved  by  the  prayers  of  a  Christian  legion, 
which  obtained  by  miracle  an  abundant  fall  of  rain,  and 
that  this  legion,  thenceforth  known  under  the  name  of 
the  Lcgio  fulminatrix,  secured  the  favour  of  the  emperor 
to  the  proscribed  religion. |  This  story,  however,  is  not 
confirmed  by  any  testimony  worthy  of  credit,  and  is 
full  of  historical  impossibilities.  It  is  certain  that  the 
imperial  armies  did  owe  their  salvation  to  a  violent 
storm ;  but  while  some  Christian  soldiers  doubtless 
attributed  the  deliverance  to  their  prayers,  it  is  no  less 
certain  that  they  failed  to  make  the  pagans  share  their 

*  Qv  (pi\6<TO<poi,  oici  (pi\o\6yoi,  dWa  iced  x^poTtxvai-      (Justin,  "  Opera," 

P*  49  i  .  .    -     . 

f  E'it]  ovv  Kai  vfxaQ  virip  iavTu>i>  KpXvai.     (Ibid.,  p.  52.) 

|  Tertullian,  •'Apologia,"  c.  iv. ;  "Ad  Scapulam,"  c.  iv. ;  Eusebius, 

"II. E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  3. 


130  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

conviction,  for  the  same  event  is,  on  the  testimony  of 
inscriptions  that  cannot  he  questioned,  ascribed  by  the 
emperor  to  Jupiter  and  not  to  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  is 
there  any  indication  of  a  change  in  his  policy  with 
regard  to  the  Christians.* 

In  the  East,  persecution  spent  its  greatest  force 
on  the  city  of  Smyrna.  It  commenced,  as  usual,  in 
popular  upiisings.  Polycarp,  whose  martyrdom  we 
have  already  described,  was  the  most  illustrious  victim. 
In  the  West,  the  Church  of  Rome  was  exposed  to 
terrible  sufferings.  The  "Acts  of  the  Martyrs"  refer  to 
this  period  the  torture  of  St.  Felicitas  and  her  seven 
sons — an  instance  of  heroism  surpassing  that  of  the 
mother  of  the  Maccabees.  It  was  especially  against 
central  Gaul  that  the  fury  of  the  enemies  of  Christianity 
spent  itself.  The  letter  of  the  Church  of  Lyons  to  that 
of  Asia  Minor  gives  us  an  incomparable  picture  of  this 
persecution. t  The  houses  of  the  Christians  were  broken 
into  by  an  excited  mob,  who  carried  devastation  in  their 
track.  The  Christians  were  thrown  in  crowds  into 
dungeons,  and  subjected  to  fearful  tortures.  Some 
were  subdued  by  the  excessive  bodily  agony,  but  the 
greater  -part  endured  with  unshaken  fortitude.     "  They 

*  Mosheim  ("  Commentaria  rerum  Christian,  ante  Constant.," 
p.  247-252)  divests  the  pretended  miracle  of  the  legion  of  all  vestige 
of  probability,  on  conclusive  grounds.  He  shows  that  the  testi- 
mony of  Tertullian  {"  Apology,"  c.  v.)  is  vague,  that  the  name  fu/wi- 
natrix  belonged,  from  the  time  of  Augustus,  to.  the  same  legion 
(Dio  Cassius,  IV.  231,  and  that  it  was  moreover  not  possible  that  an 
entire  legion  should  at  this  time  be  composed  of  Christians.  He 
proves  that  several  medals  ascribe  the  miracle  to  Jupiter,  who  is 
proclaimed  as  the  Protector  of  the  Romans  in  the  Antoninus  Column. 
He  establishes,  further,  the  continuance  of  persecution  to  the  close 
of  the  reign.  (See  also  Neander,  Vol.  I.  pp.  116,  117  [Eng.  Trans., 
p.  1 59-161,  Bonn's  Ed.];  and  Routh,  "Reliq.  Sacrae,"  Vol.  I.  p.  164) 

t  See  this  letter  in  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  1,  2,  3.  See 
also  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacrae,"  Vol.  I.  p.  293. 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH   AND   THE    EMPIRE.        131 

know  that,  possessing  the  love  of  God,  they  have 
nothing  to  fear,  and  they  count  all  suffering  light  when 
the  glory  of  Christ  is  concerned."*  It  might  seem  that 
they,  had  become  insensible  to  sorrow,  so  convinced 
are  they  that  "  the  sufferings  of  the  present  time  are 
not  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  to  be  revealed  in 
them."  Calm  and  intrepid  before  the  bar  of  their 
judges,  they  confess  the  name  of  Christ  with  heroic 
courage,  as  often  as  their  voice  can  rise  above  the 
clamour  of  the  crowd.  The  Christian  Sixtus  gives 
repeated  and  astonishing  proofs  of  steadfestness  amid 
unparalleled  agonies.  Not  content  with  wreaking  on 
the  bodies  of  the  Christians  themselves  the  refined  bar- 
barity of  Roman  torture,  the  magistrates  put  the  slaves 
of  Christians  to  the  rack  to  obtain  some  evidence  against 
them.  Indignant  at  so  iniquitous  a  proceeding,  Vettius 
Epagathus,  a  distinguished  citizen,  who  had  hitherto 
kept  secret  his  adhesion  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  took  up 
the  defence  of  his  accused  brethren,  and  at  the  inquiry 
before  the  proconsul  acted  as  advocate  for  the  Christians, 
well  knowing  that  by  so  doing  he  subjected  himself  to 
the  sentence  of  death. t  When  the  odious  and  stupid 
charge  was  reiterated,  that  the  Christians  renewed  the 
feasts  of  Thyestes,  and  sacrificed  little  children  in  the 
celebration  of  their  mysteries,  Attalus,  one  of  the 
accused,  whose  body  had  been  already  lacerated  with 
tortures,  flung  in  the  face  of  his  judges  this  terrible 
rejoinder:  "It  is  you  who  devour  human  flesh. "J  Both 
old  age  and  tender  youth  showed  indomitable  courage. 
The  Bishop  Pothinus,  trembling  under  the  weight  of 

•  MrjSkv   <po(3tpov   TrarpoQ    dyawij,    [.irjCi     aXytivov    oirov    ~XpioTOu  £C£a. 
(Routh,  "  Rcliq.  Sacrae,"  p.  303.) 
+  Ibid.,  p.  298. 
\  'lcov  Toi/To  tanv  dv9pu)7rovg  taQitiv.     (Ibid.,  p.  315-) 


132  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ninety  years,  replied  to  the  magistrate  who  asked  him 
what  god  he  worshipped  :  "  Thou  shalt  know  Him  when 
thou  art  worthy."*  Covered  with  wounds,  he  was  cast 
into  prison,  where  in  two  days  he  expired.  Blandina, 
the  young  slave-girl,  triumphed  in  the  midst  of  all  tor- 
tures, and  inspired  her  brother,  of  the  same  tender  years, 
with  her  own  enthusiasm  and  courage.  This  child  of 
fifteen,  frail  and  weak  by  nature  as  others,  displayed 
extraordinary  moral  power;  neither  tortures  nor  wild 
beasts  could  make  her  falter.  The  Christians  feared  for 
her,  but  it  was  she  who  strengthened  their  faith.  Before 
the  whole  circus,  full  of  a  howling  crowd,  in  view  of  the 
gaping  mouth  of  the  lion,  she  stood  calm  and  smiling; 
and  that  calm  smile  of  the  poor  slave  was  the  boldest 
challenge  ever  hurled  at  the  material  omnipotence  of 
the  pagan  empire. t  This  strong  defiance,  coming  from 
the  servile  dust  in  which  the  slave  had  been  wont  to 
crouch  till  Christianity  proclaimed  the  rights  of 
conscience,  made  heathen  society  learn  with  a  thrill 
of  dread  that  the  humblest  believer  in  Christ  is  a 
power  not  to  be  ignored.  "  God  shows  us  in  this  young 
slave,"  we  read  in  the  letter  of  the  Christians  of  Lyons, 
"that  His  choice  rests  upon  that  which  seems  to  men 
most  vile,  contemptible,  and  ignoble. "J 

There  came  a  momentary  pause  in  the  persecution. 
The  proconsul  found  himself  embarrassed  by  the  num- 
ber, and  sometimes  by  the  quality  of  the  captives,  for 
many  were  Roman  citizens,  and  the  majesty  of  that 
name  might  not  be  profaned,  even  when  associated 
with  the  vile  name  of  Christian,  by  their  condemnation 
to  ignominious  punishment.  The  emperor,  when  inter- 
rogated on  this  matter,  replied  that  the  Roman  citizens 

:'  '  E&v  ijq  d£iog  yvwoy.     (Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacrse,"  p.  306.) 
f  Ibid.,  p.  315.  %  ibid.,  p.  301. 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.        133 

who  persevered  in  their  faith  were  to  be  beheaded, 
apostates  released,  and  all  other  accused  persons  sub- 
jected to  the  extreme  penalties  of  the  law.  This  order 
was  rigorously  carried  out,  and  floods  of  Roman  blood 
flowed  in  the  prisons.  The  accused  belonging  to  the 
lower  classes  perished  in  the  arena,  amidst  the  plaudits 
of  the  multitudes,  and  even  Blandina,  of  whom  the  very 
wild  beasts  at  first  seemed  to  stand  in  awe,  fell  at  last  a 
victim.  The  brief  time  of  respite  was  used  by  many 
Christians  (who  had  proved  for  a  season  untrue  to  their 
faith)  in  retracing  their  apostasy.  They  astonished 
the  people  by  this  return  of  courage,  which  did  not 
again  fail  in  the  face  of  death.  The  persecution  raged 
with  equal  violence  at  Vienna  in  Gaul,  and  at  Autun, 
where  Symphorian  perished  for  refusing  to  worship  the 
goddess  Cybele.  The  martyrs  of  this  period  were  remark- 
able for  their  great  humility,  joined  with  a  lively  joy 
altogether  devoid  of  fanaticism.  They  refused  even  to 
be  called  martyrs,  as  not  worthy  of  the  name.*  They 
did  no  more,  they  said,  than  follow  the  Lamb  whither- 
soever He  went,t  and  first  of  all  to  the  altar  of  sacrifice. 
They  were  distinguished  by  a  majesty  and  beauty  more 
than  human,  and  their  bonds  seemed  the  jewels  of  their 
sanguinary  espousals. £  Their  various  agonies  were  to 
them  as  the  weaving  of  a  wreath  of  divers  flowers  to  be 
offered  unto  God  the  Father,§  from  whom  they  looked 
to  receive  the  crown  laid  up  for  the  victor  in  the  fight. 
The  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  which  was  a  calamity 


*  Ovre  f.u)v  r)ju!f  tTrtrpurov  Tovrq)  T<p  6v6fian  Trpocrayoptvuv  clvtovq. 
("Reliq.  Sacrae,"  p.  320.) 

f  ' AkoXovOojv  t<i>  apviq.,  oirov  av  virciyy.      (Ibid.,  p.  298.) 

I  Ibid.,  p.  308. 

§  'Ek  diatpopiovyap  xpi>)\iaTwv  koX  7ravroiu)v  dvOojv  tva  rrKt^avrtQ  aretyavov. 
(Ibid.,  p.  307. j 


134  TIIE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  the  empire,  was  a  deliverance  to  the  Church.  Corn- 
modus,  the  frenzied  tyrant  who  brought  back  the  worst 
days  of  the  early  Caesars,  showed  himself  tolerant 
towards  the  Christians.  Persecution,  if  not  absolutely 
suppressed,  was  greatly  modified,  and  received  no  fresh 
impetus  from  imperial  decrees.  Marcia,  the  favourite 
mistress  of  Commodus,  appears  to  have  been,  if  not  posi- 
tively attached  to  the  Church,  at  least  well  disposed  to 
the  new  religion.  It  is  probable  that  before  her  eleva- 
tion to  her  throne  of  shame,  she  had  been  among  the 
proselytes.  She  remained  ever  the  protector  of  her 
former  co-religionists,  and,  according  to  St.  Hippolytus, 
even  succeeded  in  gaining  the  recall  to  Rome  of  a  large 
number  of  exiles,  who  had  been  banished  to  work  in  the 
mines  in  Sicily.*  Irenaeus  mentions  that  there  were 
many  Christians  at  the  court  of  Commodus  in  the  en- 
joyment of  large  liberty. t  The  old  statutes  against 
their  religion  had  not,  however,  been  repealed,  and  the 
Church  still  numbered  several  martyrs,  among  others 
the  Senator  Apollonius4  Antoninus,  a  proconsul  of 
Asia  Minor,  who  sought  to  revive  the  persecution,  was 
deterred  from  doing  so  by  the  number  of  Christians  who 
thronged  to  his  tribunal  voluntarily  to  surrender  them- 
selves.   He  contented  himself  with  apprehending  a  few, 

*  'H  Mapxla  ovcra  <pi\69eoG  tpyov  ti  dyaObv  IpyaaaaQai  Qt\r](ja<ja. 
("  Philosophoumena,"  p.  287.)  See  also  M.  de  Witte's  article 
entitled,  "  Du  christianisme  de  quelques  imperatrices  romaines," 
p.  5.     Paris,  1853. 

t  "  Contr.  Hcxres.,"  IV.  30. 

X  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  21  ;  Hieronym.,  "  Catol ,"  c.  xlii. 
Neander,  relying  upon  this  last  witness,  asserts  that  Apollonius 
was  denounced  by  his  slave,  and  that  the  latter  was  put  to  death 
for  laying  information  against  his  master.  (Vol.  I.  p.  201.)  [Eng. 
Trans.,  p.  163,  Bonn's  Ed.]  But  Gieseler  brings  forward  passages 
of  Roman  law  which  set  aside  this  supposition.  A  slave  who  proved 
the  charge  he  brought  was  not  put  to  death.    (Gieseler,  Vol.  I .  p.  1 77.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    EMPIRE.        135 

saying  to  the  rest :  "  Wretches,  if  you  desire  to  die,  you 
have  rocks  and  ropes  at  hand."  * 

The  Church  which  was  engaged  throughout  this 
period  in  such  stern  struggles  with  enemies  without, 
had  to  maintain  an  equally  severe  conflict  with  foes 
within.  Heresy,  of  which  we  have  already  noted  the 
indications,  and  of  which  we  shall  follow  the  pro- 
gress, t  is  no  longer  in  this,  as  in  the  first  century,  a 
vague  and  formless  thing.  Its  various  characteristics 
are  clearly  defined.  While  the  Judaising  sects  are 
passing  through  a  crisis,  which,  separating  the  mode- 
rate from  the  fanatical  party,  will  finally  issue  in  the 
development  of  Ebionitism,  Eastern  Gnosticism  is  yet 
more  surely  corrupting  Christian  doctrine  by  its  wild 
and  fantastic  speculations— the  thin  veil  cloaking  a 
fatalistic  Pantheism.  At  Alexandria,  Basilides  (a.d. 
125)  and  Valentine  exerted  in  turn  an  extraordinary 
influence;  the  latter  endeavoured  to  establish  his  school 
at  Rome  about  the  year  140.  The  Gnostics  of  Syria 
professed  a  more  open  dualism  than  those  of  Egypt. 
The  Church  of  Antioch  had  to  resist  Saturnin,  that  of 
Edessa  to  oppose  Bardesanes  and  Tatian.  The  latter,  at 
first  a  disciple  of  Justin  Martyr,  finally  became  a  heretic. 
Marcion,  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Sinope,  was  the  author 
of  a  system  superior  in  many  respects  to  the  speculative 
theories  of  the  other  Gnostics,  but  not  less  destructive 
of  the  foundation  truths  of  positive  Christianity.  At 
Rome  he  encountered  Polycarp,  who  denounced  him  in 
a  terrible  apostrophe  as  a  child  of  the  devil. 

In  the  year  170,  a  fanatic  sect,  preaching  the  most 

*  fQ  SetXoi,  el  OfAfrt  a7ro9i'i]<7Ktat  Kptjfivovg  1)  fip6\o\fq  t\irt.  (Tertul- 
lian,  "  Ad  Scapulam,"  c.  v.) 

'  We  shall  consider  the  great  heresies  in  detail  in  a  subsequent 
volume  devoted  especially  to  this  subject. 


I36  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

rigid  asceticism,  arose  in  Phrygia.  It  blended  with  a 
very  sincere  piety  much  of  the  extravagant  superstition 
of  that  country.  Montanism,  founded  by  the  Phrygian 
Montanus,  profoundly  agitated  the  Church  of  the  second 
century.  It  made  its  appearance  at  Rome  towards 
the  end  of  that  period,  and  there  performed  an 
important  part.  The  Church  itself  was  also  torn  with 
internal  dissensions,  apart  from  heresies.  The  deter- 
mination of  the  Easter  festival  was  a  question  which 
divided  East  and  West.  The  Bishop  of  Rome  excited 
a  lively  resistance,  when  he  endeavoured  to  enforce  his 
own  practice  on  the  whole  Church.*  On  this  occasion, 
towards  the  close  of  the  second  century,  were  held  the 
Synods  of  Cesarsea  and  of  Lyons,  which  foiled  for  the 
time  this  ambitious  project. 

<  *  We  shall  enter  subsequently  into  details  of  the  internal  dissen- 
sions in  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   CHURCH    OF   THE   EMPIRE,    FROM   THE    COMMENCE- 
MENT  OF   THE   THIRD    CENTURY   TO    CONSTANTINE. 

§  I.  The  Syrian  Princes.  (193-235.) 

After  the  murder  of  Commodus,  the  Empire  was 
shaken  with  profound  convulsions,  creating  what  seemed 
anarchy  even  in  that  age  of  social  disorganisation, 
when  every  accession  to  the  throne  was  signalised,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  by  sanguinary  conflicts.  The  imperial 
purple,  after  adorning  for  a  few  honourable  days  the 
virtuous  Pertinax,  was  put  up  to  auction  by  the  soldiery, 
and  bought  by  Didius  Julianus,  who  had  no  security 
for  keeping  it,  when  once  the  last  gold  piece  of  the 
appointed  price  was  paid,  and  the  Pretorians  had  ceased 
to  regard  him  as  a  solvent  debtor.  While  Albinus  was 
proclaimed  by  the  legion  of  Britain,  and  Niger  by  the 
legion  of  Syria,  Septimus  Severus,  at  the  head  of  the 
army  of  Illyria,  advanced  upon  Rome,  avenged  upon 
the  Pretorians  the  death  of  Pertinax,  and  after  attack- 
ing in  succession  both  his  competitors,  re-united  the 
whole  empire  under  his  dominion.  (197.)  Under  cover 
of  the  troubles  arising  out  of  this  war  of  the  succession, 
the  enemies  of  the  Church  found  more  than  one  occa- 
sion to  let  loose  upon  it  the  unchained  passions  of  the 
people,  no  longer  under  the  restraint  of  any  organised 
authority.  Clement  of  Alexandria  tells  us  that  every 
day  the  blood  of  innocent  Christians  flowed  in  torrents, 

10 


I38  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

that  they  were  burned,  crucified,  and  beheaded.*  Ter- 
tullian's  address  to  the  martyrs  belongs  to  these  stormy 
days,  when  persecution,  without  any  fresh  authoritative 
sanction,  constantly  burst  forth  at  all  points  under  the 
pressure  of  popular  fanaticism.  Tertullian  designed  to 
raise  the  courage  of  the  Christians,  and  to  pour  the  bright 
beams  of  hope  into  the  dark  dungeons  where  they  were 
suffering  in  crowds.  "  O  ye  blessed  captives,"  he  wrote, 
"grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  who  has  entered  with  you 
into  the  prison.  In  truth,  if  He  had  not  entered  with  you, 
you  yourselves  would  not  be  there  to-day.  The  prison 
is  the  devil's  house  in  which  he  lodges  his  family.  You 
have  only  entered  it  that  you  may  tread  him  under  foot 
in  his  own  abode,  as  you  have  already  trampled  on  him 
in  crossing  the  threshold.  .  .  .  Suffer  him  not 
to  say,  '  They  are  come  into  my  home  ;  I  will  tempt 
them  with  base  disputings  and  envyings  ;  I  will  pro- 
voke them  to  defection  and  dissension.'  Your  peace  is 
deadly  war  with  him."  Setting  in  vivid  contrast  the 
world  from  which  the  confessors  have  come  out,  and 
the  dungeon  into  which  they  have  entered,  Tertullian 
shows  them  that  in  reality  the  worst  of  prisons  is  this 
accursed  world.  "  Deeper  is  its  darkness,  heavier  the 
chains  with  which  it  binds  the  immortal  soul.  It  num- 
bers more  captives  than  the  most  crowded  prison  ;•  does 
it  not  hold  in  bondage  the  whole  human  race,  which 
is  cited,  not  to  the  bar  of  a  proconsul,  but  before  the 


*  'B/.UV  Si  atyBovoi  (.laprvpcov  7rr)yai  Ikcwt^q  im'tpciQ  iv  o^OaX/ioTc  i)jxu)V 
Gnopovixtvai  TrapoirTtjfiivuiVf  dvaaKivdaXevofikvwv,  rag  KftyaXuc  curort- 
livof-iivuiv.  (Clement  of  Alexandria,  "  Stromates,"  II.  XX.  125.) 
Neander  ("  Antignosticus,"  p.  17)  establishes  very  clearly  the  date 
of  the  first  books  of  the  "  Stromates,"  for  Clement  does  not  carry 
the  chronology  of  Roman  history  beyond  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Commodus.  ("Stromates,"  I.  21  ;  II.  139.)  We  may  conclude, 
therefore,  that  Septimus  Severus  had  not  yet  ascended  the  throne. 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  139 

judgment-seat  of  God?"*  "Your  cell  is  dark,"  he  says 
again,  "but  you  are  its  light.  You  are  in  chains,  but 
you  are  the  Lord's  freedmen.  You  are  summoned 
before  a  judge,  but  you  shall  judge  your  judges. t  The 
prison,  like  a  sacred  retreat,  hides  from  the  prisoner  the 
sight  of  evil.  There  he  prepares  himself  to  resist  unto 
blood.  It  is  not  from  a  couch  of  ease  men  go  forth  to 
fight. J  If  the  athlete  submits  to  severest  discipline, 
shall  the  Christian  athlete  complain  of  the"  painful  pro- 
cess to  which  he  is  subjected, — he,  who  is  led  into  the 
arena  by  Christ  Himself,  and  anointed  with  the  holy  oil 
of  the  Spirit?  God  is  his  judge,  eternity  his  crown. 
Courage  grows  strong  by  enduring  hardness  ;  it  faints 
in  ease  and  luxury. §  What !  shall  the  Christian  hesi- 
tate when  earthly  glory  has  made  so  many  heroes  who 
have  not  shrunk  from  death,  and  when  death,  ever 
at  hand,  may  at  any  moment  carry  us  off  by  the  most 
common  accident?" 

These  manly  exhortations  were  well  adapted  to  en- 
courage the  hearts  of  the  prisoners,  and  to  impart  to  them 
at  once  the  firmness  which  makes  the  soul  strong  to 
endure,  and  the  enthusiasm  which  raises  it  above  suffer- 
ing and  transfigures  even  the  most  terrible  of  tortures. 
They  would  sorely  need  such  support,  as  persecution 
became  more  hot  and  cruel.  The  new  emperor  was  at 
first  well  disposed  towards  the  Church.  It  appears  that 
he  had  been  cured  of  a  serious  malady  by  a  Christian 

*  "  Plurcs  rcos  continct.  scilicet  universum  hominum  ^cnus, 
judicia  denique  non  proconsulis  scd  Dei  sustinet."  (Tertullian, "  Ad 
Martyr.,"  c.  ii.  1 

t  "Habet  tenebras  sed  lumen  estis  ipsi.  habet  vincula  sed  vos 
soluti  Deo  estis.  Judex  expectatur,  sed  vos  estis  de  judicibus  ipsis 
judicaturi."     (Ibid.) 

X  "  Nee  de  cubiculo  ad  aciem  procedit."     (Ibid.,  c.  in.) 

§  "  Virtus   duritia   extruitur,    mollitia   vero    destruitur."     (Ibid.) 


I40  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

named  Proculus,  who,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
early  Church,  had  prayed  over  him,  anointing  him  with 
oil.*  He  kept  his  benefactor  in  the  palace  as  long  as  he 
lived,  and  it  was  perhaps  at  the  instigation  of  Proculus 
that  he  chose  a  Christian  nurse  for  his  son  Caracalla. 
He  was  too  much  preoccupied  with  serious  matters  at 
the  commencement  of  his  reign,  to  devote  much  atten- 
tion to  the  persecution  of  the  Church,  which  gave  him, 
moreover,  no  cause  for  disquietude,  as  in  these  trouble- 
some times  the  Christians  had  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  submission  to  the  laws  and  avoidance  of  all 
sedition.  Determined  even  to  hardness,  a  despot  rather 
than  a  tyrant,  bent  on  breaking  down  all  opposition, 
uniting  much  narrowness  of  mind  with  indomitable  re- 
solution, Severus  was  a  man  who,,  both  from  his  good 
and  bad  qualities,  was  liable  at  any  moment  to  become 
a  formidable  persecutor.  He  had  a  strong  tendency  to 
superstition,  and  his  passing  leniency  towards  Chris- 
tianity was  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  he  regarded 
it  as  a  high  form  of  magical  art,  effecting  marvellous 
cures  by  new  incantations.  It  would  be  easy  to  turn  in 
a  contrary  direction,  sentiments  so  little  in  harmony 
with  the  new  religion,  sentiments,  too,  which  would  find 
ample  scope  in  the  paganism  of  the  day.  It  was  after  a 
journey  into  Asia  Minor  and  the  East,  that  a  change  of 
disposition  became  observable  in  the  emperor.  It  is 
ascribed  in  part  to  the  violent  fanaticism  of  the  sect  of 
the  Montanists,  which  had  spread  widely  in  Syria,  and 
which,  by  proclaiming  the  approaching  destruction  of 
the  empire  and  of  the  world,  suggested  the  idea  that  it 
might  take  an  active  part  in  the  fulfilment  of  its  own 
sinister  prophecy.  It  is  more  reasonable  to  regard,  as 
the  first  cause  of  the  renewal  of  persecution,  the  impres- 
*  Tertullian,  "  Ad  Scapulam,"  c.  iv. 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  141 

sion  produced  upon  Severus  by  his  travels  in  the  East, 
which  was  then  the  nursery  and  hotbed  of  all  manner  of 
superstition.  He  could  not  with  impunity  be  brought 
into  contact  with  the  priests  of  those  ancient  religions, 
the  secret  of  whose  success  lay  in  the  obscurity  in  which 
they  were  involved,  suggesting  that  in  their  deep  mys- 
teries there  might  be  found  satisfaction  for  all  the 
aspirations  of  the  soul.  Egypt  was  always  the  land  of 
magic  and  mystery ;  it  had  become  to  the  world  that 
which  Eleusis  once  was  to  Greece.  The  worship  of  Isis 
and  of  Osiris,  still  more  that  of  Serapis,  which,  like  the 
worship  of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  seemedto[illuminate  the 
dark  kingdom  of  death,  and  to  facilitate  the  transit  from 
this  life  to  another,  drew  innumerable  adherents,  among 
whom  the  emperor  Severus  took  his  place.*  The  priests 
did  not  fail  to  use  their  influence  upon  so  powerful  a 
disciple,  to  stir  up  his  hostility  to  a  religion  the  progress 
of  which  alarmed  them,  and  which  offered  the  calm 
shining  of  a  sure"  hope,  in  place  of  the  false  and  fitful 
gleams  which  they  shed  upon  the  tomb.  It  is  possible 
that  a  special  circumstance  tended  to  aggravate  the 
danger  of  the  Christians.  Public  games  were  being 
celebrated  in  Africa  with  great  pomp,  in  honour  of  the 
triumph  of  the  emperor  over  his  rivals,  and  for  the  first 
time  the  Pythian  games  were  performed  at  Carthage. 
Some  writers  think  that  it  was  on  this  occasion  Tertul- 
lian  wrote  his  treatise,  "  On  the  Spectacles,"  in  which  he 
demonstrates,  with  his  usual  vehemence,  that  the  duty 
of  a  disciple  of  Christ  is  to  abstain  from  these  cruel  pas- 
times, which  were  so  often  shameful,  and  always  stained 
with  idolatry,  and  which  were  proscribed,  if  not  by  the 
letter  at  least  by  the  spirit  of  the  sacred  writings.  This 
treatise  of  Tertullian's,  which  belongs  at  any  rate  to 
*  Milman,  "History  of  Christianity,"  Vol.  I.  p.  35. 


142  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

this  period,  proves  that  the  more  earnest  Christians  had 
conscientious  scruples  about  attending  the  games  in  the 
circus.  Their  absence,  irritating  to  their  countrymen, 
who  regarded  it  as  an  indirect  condemnation  of  them- 
selves, might  easily  be  misconstrued  to  the  emperor 
or  his  proconsuls,  especially  when  these  public  feasts 
were  of  a  political  character.* 

These  various  circumstances  sufficiently  account  for 
the  revival  of  persecution.  Severus,  on  his  transit 
through  Asia  Minor  (a.d.  203),  issued  a  decree,  which 
by  condemning  the  propagation  of  new  doctrines,  and 
change  from  one  religion  to  another,  aimed  a  direct 
blow  at  a  faith  which  lived  by  proselytism.t  The 
decree  of  Trajan,  which  proscribed  the  very  name  of 
Christian  and  laid  it  under  the  ban  of  the  law,  seemed 
to  render  fresh  penal  measures  unnecessary.  The 
measures  taken,  however,  contributed  constantly  to 
aggravate  persecution  by  giving  the  judges  new 
counts  of  indictment.  Trajan  had  intended  only  to 
punish  Christianity  in  its  undeniable  manifestations. 
Septimus  Severus  struck  at  it  in  its  mode  of  propaga- 
tion, in  its  missionary  activity,  and  he  put  the  magistrate 
on  the  track  of  minute  inquiries  full  of  peril  to  the 
Church.  It  seems  that  at  first  some  proconsuls 
showed  a  spirit  of  toleration,  and  endeavoured  to  save 
the  accused,  whom  they  knew  to  be  innocent,  sometimes 
inflicting  a  slight  penalty,  sometimes  condemning  them 
on  a  charge  to  which  the  punishment  of  death  was  not 
annexed.^  Encouraged  by  this  disposition  to  leniency, 
many  Christians  tried  by  various  methods  to  escape  the 


*  Munter,  "  Primordia  Ecclesiae  Africanse,"  p.  198. 
t  ''  In  itinere   Palaestinis   Judasos  fieri   sub   grave  poena  vetuit. 
Idem  etiam  de  Christianis  sanxit."     ("  Spartianus,"  c.  xvii.) 

t  This  may  be  inferred  from  chap.  iv.  of  the  Letter  to  Scapula. 


BOOK    I.— THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  143 

impending  sentence.  Some  bought  safety  by  paying  a 
sum  of  money,  either  to  the  informer  who  was  about  to 
betray  them,  or  to  the  soldier  who  came  to  seize  them, 
or  to  some  corruptible  and  interested  judge,  of  whom 
there  were  many  in  the  pagan  tribunals.*  Tertullian 
expressed  himself  with  just  indignation  against  such 
proceedings,  in  his  treatise  on  "Fleeing  from  Persecu- 
tion," written  at  this  period,  and  already  strongly  imbued 
with  the  exaggerations  of  Montanism.  "  Can  anything," 
he  says,  "  be  more  unworthy  of  God  and  of  His  work, 
of  that  God  who  spared  not  His  own  Son  for  thee,  than 
to  ransom  with  a  few  gold  pieces  a  man  who  has  been 
redeemed  with  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  sun  grew  pale 
before  the  splendour  of  our  redemption;  our  freedom 
was  wrested  from  hell  and  covenanted  in  heaven.  The 
everlasting  doors  were  uplifted  that  the  King  of  Glory 
might  come  in — the  Lord  of  all  power  and  might,  who 
had  won  man  back  for  heaven  from  earth,  nay,  rather 
from  hell.  Who  is  the  madman  who  will  fight  against 
Him?  Who  will  degrade  and  sully  that  which  He  has 
purchased  at  the  dear  price  of  His  most  precious  blood? 
Flee,  rather  than  sell  thyself  so  cheap,  setting  so  low  a 
price  upon  that  which  Christ  has  so  highly  esteemed. 
What!  shall  a  Christian  be  saved  by  money?  Shall  his 
gold  redeem  him  from  suffering?  Would  not  this  be  to 
be  rich  against  his  God,  while  Christ  poured  forth  His 
own  blood  for  him?f"  This  shameful  bargain  is  true 
simony,  and  in  reply  to  the  excuse  urged  that  it  was  a 
Christian  duty  to  pay  tribute  to  Caesar,  Tertullian 
replies  by  this  noble  utterance:   "If  I   owe  tribute  to 

*  "  Pacisceris  cum  dclatore  vcl  milite,  vcl  furunculo  aliquo 
preside."     (Tertullian,  "  Dc  Fuga  in  Persecutione,"  c.  xii.  1.1 

f'Adversus  Deum  erit  dives;  at  enim  Christus  sanguine  fuit 
dives  pro  illo."    (Ibid.) 


144  THE   EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Caesar,  do  I  not  owe  my  blood  to  God,  in  return  for  that 
of  His  Son  shed  for  me?"* 

The  writer  had  less  foundation  for  his  reproaches  of 
the  Christians  and  Christian  bishops,  who  in  great 
numbers  sought  safety  from  persecution  in  flight. 
This  they  did  often  from  a  sense  of  their  own  weakness, 
fearing  lest  they  might,  in  the  trying  hour,  fall  into 
apostasy.  In  this  respect  they  were  justified  in  appeal- 
ing to  the  example  and  precept  of  Jesus  Christ,  who 
Himself,  on  various  occasions,  retreated  from  places 
where  danger  threatened,  saying  that  His  hour  was  not 
yet  come.  The  ardent  polemic,  in  rebuking  them  by 
the  maxims  of  a  fearless  and  reckless  boldness,  spoke 
rather  at  the  dictation  of  fanatic  zeal  than  of  Christian 
wisdom,  which,  while  it  encourages  true  heroism,  never 
fosters  temerity.  When  Tertullian  adduces  in  support 
of  his  position,  the  blessings  derived  by  the  Church  from 
persecution,  in  renewed  zeal  and  deepened  piety,t  he 
proves  too  much ;  for,  logically  starting  from  such  a 
principle,  he  ought  to  go  on  to  say  that  the  Christian 
should  not  use  any  remedies  in  sickness,  since  sickness, 
too,  is  salutary  discipline.  To  assert  that  to  flee  from 
apostasy  is  tantamount  to  having  already  apostatised, 
is  an  inexcusable  exaggeration.  Tertullian  comes  back 
to  the  limits  of  sound  Christian  reason,  when  he  de- 
clares that  he  cannot  sanction  any  discontinuance  of 
worship  by  the  members  of  the  Church  on  account  of 
persecution.  "  If  thou  canst  not  gather  the  flock  together 
by  day,"  he  says,  "thou  canst  by  night;  Jesus  Christ 
will  be  a  bright  light  to  thee,  dispelling  the  darkness. 
If  all  the  brethren  cannot  meet  together,  where  three 

*  "  Quid  autem  Deo  debeo,  sicut  denarium  Cassari,  nisi  sangui- 
nem.  quern  pro  me  filius  fudit  ipsius  ?"  (Tertullian,  "  De  Fuga  in 
Persecutione,"  c.  xii.)  f  Ibid.,  c.  i. 


BOOK    I. — THE   CHURCH    OF  THE   EMPIRE.  I45 

Christians  are  in  a  company,  there  thou  shalt  find  a 
Church."* 

At  the  commencement  of  the  persecution  under 
Severus,  a  strange  circumstance  occurred,  which  called 
forth  a  new  treatise  from  Tertullian,  characterised  by 
the  same  exaggeration.  A  Christian  soldier  had  refused 
the  crown  of  laurel,  which  the  legionaries  were  accus- 
tomed to  carry  before  the  emperor  in  token  of  joy,  when 
they  received  some  fresh  gift  from  his  munificence. 
Opinions  were  divided  in  the  Ghurch  about  this  act ; 
it  was  forbidden  by  the  illustrious  African  in  terms  of 
extravagant  reprobation.  Full  of  sarcasm  and  bitter- 
ness against  those  timid  Christians  who  are  lions  in  the 
days  of  peace,  and  lambs  in  the  day  of  battle, t  Tertullian 
scornfully  sets  aside  their  objections.  The  tradition 
of  the  Church,  he  says,  if  not  Scripture  itself,  is  opposed 
to  a  custom  so  essentially  pagan.J  Nature,  which  is 
also  a  divine  volume,  made  the  flowers  to  adorn  the 
fields  and  perfume  the  air,  not  to  wither  in  a  garland 
curiously  twined  by  the  hand  of  man.  No  saint  or 
prophet  wore  a  crown,  and  the  crown  of  Christ  was  of 
thorns. §  Beside,  these  military  garlands  represented  the 
mourning  of  widows  and  the  tears  of  mothers,  and  the 
Christian  should  not  forget  that  he  has  brethren  among 
the  pagans.  From  these  considerations,  Tertullian,  as  a 
consistent  Montanist,  argues  the  incompatibility  of  piety 
with  military  service.  He  sums  up  his  views  in  this 
lofty  utterance,  admirable  indeed  if  only  applied  with 
discernment :  "Faith  acknowledges  no  plea  of  necessity."  || 

*  "Si  colligere  interdiu  non  potes,  habcs  noctem.  Sit  tibi  ct  in 
tribus  Ecclesia."     (Tertullian,  "  De  Fuga  in  Persecutione,"  c.  xiv.) 

t  "In  pace  leones,  in  praelio  cervos."  (Tertullian,  "  De  Corona 
Milit.."  c.  i.)  t  Ibid.,  c.  iii.  §  Ibid.,  c.  iv. 

||  "  Non  admittit  status  fidei  allegationem  necessitatis."  (Ibid., 
c.  xi.) 


I46  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

While  thus  making  full  allowance  for  a  certain  ex- 
travagance in  the  severity  of  Tertullian,  we  cannot  fail 
to  perceive  that  there  was  at  the  commencement  of 
this  persecution,  some  relaxation  of  Christian  courage. 
The  Church  showed  itself  more  concerned  than  for- 
merly to  avoid  danger :  it  was  more  prudent.  This 
disposition,  lawful  in  itself  if  only  it  can  be  harmonised 
with  inflexible  adherence  to  duty,  needed  to  be  carefully 
watched,  the  more  so  as  the  Christians  found  at  their 
side  dangerous  sophists,  ready  to  supply  cowardice  with 
all  the  subterfuges  of  a  subtle  and  perverted  exegesis. 
The  Gnostics,  those  proud  contemners  of  Christian 
simplicity,  claimed  to  be  the  representatives  of  truth 
everywhere,  except  in  the  circus  and  at  the  stake,  and 
they  directed  their  polemics  against  martyrdom.  These 
spiritual  men,  with  all  their  boasted  freedom  from 
fleshly  bonds,  would  not  expose  to  torture  and  the 
flames,  the  body  they  so  affected  to  despise.  But 
neither  were  they  willing  that  others  should  take  the 
palm,  the  cost  of  which  held  back  their  own  shrinking 
hands.  Their  insidious  arguments,  into  which  the 
sacred  text  was  freely  woven,  might  shake  the  con- 
stancy of  Christians,  or,  at  least,  tend  to  relax  or  to 
corrupt  what  might  be  called  the  public  spirit  of  the 
Church,  which  lends  the  strongest  impulse  to  individual 
devotedness.  Tertullian  felt  it  his  duty  to  unmask 
these  miserable  sophistries  in  his  treatise  "  Against  the 
Gnostic  Scorpions."  It  is  plain  from  the  vitupera- 
tive appellation  thus  given  to  the  heretics  in  the  very 
title  of  his  book,  in  what  a  spirit  of  bitterness  he  entered 
upon  the  contest.  He  was  not  wrong  in  supposing  that 
there  was  peril  for  the  Christians  m  of  his  day  in  these 
sophistical  arguments.  If  he  errs  in  this  treatise  by 
magnifying  the  value  of  martyrdom   at  the  expense  of 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  147 

the  great  doctrine  of  free  salvation,  *  we  are  bound, 
nevertheless,  to  recognise  and  approve  its  general 
purport.  He  shows,  with  his  usual  ability,  that  nothing 
is  more  conformable  to  the  will  of  God  than  suffering 
for  truth.  The  Divine  words  which  proclaim  the 
blessedness  of  those  who  thus  suffer,  are  as  applicable 
to  every  age  as  is  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  given 
with  them,  t  The  formal  interdiction  of  idolatry  ren- 
ders martyrdom  inevitable,  and  this  should  be  no  ground 
of  complaint,  for  it  is  a  heroic  remedy  against  evil.  To 
die  for  the  Gospel,  is  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  God, 
there  to  find  supreme  blessedness.  J  The  annals  of  the 
truth  upon  earth  are  but  one  long  martyrology.  From 
its  earliest  manifestation  it  was  met  with  hatred.  §  Its 
progress  may  be  tracked  through  the  world  by  the 
bleeding  footprints  it  has  left.  This  is  true  from  Abel 
to  Paul,  who  bought  a  second  time  with  his  blood  at 
Rome  his  right  to  the  citizenship.  This  is  supremely 
true  ©f  the  Divine  Master,  and  Tertullian  shows,  with 
touching  eloquence,  how  His  cross  is  a  sacred  legacy 
to  all  who  are  His.  ||  Having  disposed  of  the  absurd 
notion  of  the  Gnostics,  that  confession  of  the  name  of 
the  Saviour  was  to  be  made  in  a  world  higher  than 
ours,  he  refutes  the  more  specious  objection  derived 
by  them  from  the  duty  of  submission  to  the  civil  autho- 
rities. He  points  out  that  we  owe  obedience  to  the 
sovereign  only  so  long  as  he  abides  within  his  own 
domain,  and  does  not  demand  divine  honours.^  "  Let 
us  suppose,  for  a  moment,"  he   says,  "  that  the   letters 


*  Tertullian.  "  Contra  Gnosticos  Scorpiac,"  c.  vi.      f  Ibid.,  c.  ii. 
I  "  Inccdisti  iirmanus  Dei,  sed  feliciter  incedisti."      (Ibid.,  c.  vi.) 
§  "  Statim    ut    coli     Deus    coepit,    invidiam     religio     sortitur." 
(Ibid.,  c.  viii.)  ||  Ibid.,  c.  x.,xi. 

IT  Tertullian,  "Contra  Gnosticos  Scorpiac.,"  c.  xiv. 


I48  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  the  Apostles  have  lost  their  natural  meaning,  does 
not  the  truth  come  out  clearly  from  their  sufferings  ? 
Let  us  only  glance  through  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
What  do  we  see  but  bonds  and  imprisonments,  scourg- 
ings  and  stonings,  drawn  swords,  risings  of  the  Jews, 
tumults  of  the  pagans  ?  This  book  is,  as  it  were, 
written  with  the  blood  of  the  Apostles,*  and,  if  need  be, 
the  annals  of  the  empire  themselves  will  cry  out  like 
the  stones  of  Jerusalem,  in  confirmation  of  the  testimony 
of  Holy  Writ.  In  reading  these  narratives,  I  learn  to 
suffer."  The  writer  makes  large  use  of  the  bold  reply 
of  Paul  to  the  Christians  of  Cesaraea,  who,  alarmed  for 
his  safety  by  the  prediction  of  Agabus,  sought  in  the 
eagerness  of  fond  affection  to  detain  him,  and  to  hinder 
his  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  there  to  meet  with  bonds 
and  perhaps  death.  Tertullian  applies  this  circum- 
stance with  crushing  vehemence  to  those  who  gave 
to  the  Christians  of  his  time  cowardly  counsels  of 
defection.  He  says:  "If  Prodicus  and  Valentine 
had  presented  themselves  to  Paul  in  order  to  sug- 
gest to  him  that  our  confession  was  not  to  be  made 
before  men  upon  earth,  because  God  does  not  thirst 
for  human  blood,  they  would  have  heard  the  servant 
of  God  saying  to  them,  as  Christ  said  to  the  tempter, 
1  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,  thou  art  an  offence  unto 
me.'  "  t 

While  he  was  thus  sustaining  in  the  Church  the 
cause  of  martyrdom,  Tertullian  was  pleading  the 
cause  of  toleration  with  the  pagan  authorities,  in  a 
book  which,  in  spite  of  the  inferiority  of  the  lan- 
guage,  recalled,  wrhile   it    surpassed,    all   that   ancient 

*  "  Ipsorum  sanguine  scripta  sunt."  (Tertullian,  "  Contra 
Gnosticos  Scorpiac,"  c.  xv.) 

|  Tertullian,  "  Contra  Gnosticos  Scorpiac.,"  c.  xv. 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  149 

eloquence  had  achieved  of  the  dramatic  and  impressive. 
There  was  wanting,  doubtless,  that  concentrated 
strength,  that  suppleness  and  harmony  of  a  perfect 
style,  which  distinguished  Demosthenes  ;  nor  did  he 
display  that  pure  transparency  of  diction  which  Cicero 
sustained  amid  the  fiercest  storms  of  political  passion. 
In  the  mere  matter  of  form,  we  find  ourselves,  in  Ter- 
tullian's  writings,  in  the  midst  of  the  period  of  the 
decline,  and  the  language  of  his  "  Apology  "  shows  all 
the  defects  of  the  age  ;  his  phrases  are  broken  and 
inharmonious,  and  he  abounds  in  forced  antitheses. 
Nevertheless,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  place  among  the 
very  masterpieces  of  the  human  mind  this  incorrect 
harangue,  so  mightily  is  it  moved  with  a  great  impulse. 
It  is  the  prophecy  of  the  future,  the  inspiration  of  an 
ardent  assurance.  Never  did  oppressed  truth  and  jus- 
tice utter  speech  more  bold,  elevated,  and  enthusiastic. 
Never  did  moral  superiority  more  grandly  assert  itself 
in  presence  of  material  might,  bent  upon  crushing  it. 
We  have  here,  not  only  a  passionate  protestation,  but  also 
a  luminous  demonstration,  in  which  the  force  of  reasoning 
equals  the  vivacity  and  brightness  of  the  style.  Thus, 
while  in  his  other  writings  Tertullian  has  too  often 
spoken  in  the  name  of  a  sect  or  a  party,  in  his 
"  Apology "  he  has  spoken  for  the  whole  Church  ; 
and  in  spite  of  the  violent  attacks  which  he  subse- 
quently directed  against  her,  she  has  never  forgotten 
the  service  he  thus  rendered  in  constituting  himself  her 
advocate. 

In  a  previous  treatise,  dedicated  "To  the  Nations," 
we  find  the  first  rough  draft  of  the  "  Apology,"  and 
the  precious  fragments  which  remain  give  us  the 
first  upspringing  of  the  writer's  thought,  in  all  its 
freshness  and  spontaneity.     The  "Apology  "  itself  first 


150  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

replies  to  all  the  charges  brought  against  the  new 
religion,  and  then,  taking  hold  of  them,  flings  them  back 
in  the  face  of  paganism,  against  which  they  are  no 
calumnies.  *  We  postpone  to  that  portion  of  our  book 
which  will  deal  with  the  philosophical  and  theological 
apology  of  the  first  centuries,  all  that  has  reference  to  the 
exposition,  properly  speaking,  of  doctrine,  and  the  argu- 
ments against  polytheism  and  pagan  philosophy.  We 
regard  the  "Apology"  now  as  a  judicial  plea,  not  as 
the  discussion  of  a  theory.  Tertullian  addresses  him- 
self first  of  all  to  that  which  may  be  termed  the  point 
of  right.  He  holds  up  unsparingly  to  reprobation  the 
mode  of  procedure  pursued  towards  the  Christians,  the 
abrogation  in  their  case  alone,  of  all  the  protective  forms 
of  justice,  and  the  iniquity  of  a  summary  condemnation 
based  only  upon  the  presumption  of  a  detested  name. 
"  Far  from  seeking  the  light,  the  judges  use  every  endea- 
vour to  exclude  it ;  they  prefer  not  to  be  enlightened  in 
that  which  they  are  predetermined  to  hate,  t  They 
receive  against  the  Christians  accusations  without  proof, 
and  will  make  no  inquiry  to  discover  that  that  which 
they  desire  to  believe  has  no  foundation  in  fact.  Who 
can  speak  of  the  respect  due  to  the  laws,  in  presence  of 
iniquitous  edicts  promulgated  by  the  worst  emperors, 
and  appealed  to  by  men  who  openly  violate  laws  the 
most  ancient  and  honourable  ?  What  has  become  of 
the  statutes  repressing  luxury  and  ambition  ?  I  see 
to-day  feasts  of  a  hundred  thousand  sestertii,  called  on 
that  account  centenaries.  I  see  the  precious  metals 
lavishly  used  in  the  service   of  the  table,  I  say  not  of 

*  It  is  plain  from  c.  iv.,  in  which  Tertullian  speaks  of  a  law  just 
abrogated  by  Severus,  that  the  "  Apology  "  belongs  to  the  reign  o 
that  emperor. 

+  "  Malunt  nescire  quia  jam  oderunt."  (Tertullian,  "  Apologia," 
c.  i.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  151 

senators  only,  or  of  men  free-born,  but  of  those  who  but 
yesterday  were  slaves.  I  see  theatres  multiplied  and 
prodigally  adorned.  I  see  the  same  garments  worn  by 
Roman  ladies  and  by  courtesans.  Where  is  piety  and 
veneration  for  ancestors  ?  You  affect  neither  their 
apparel  nor  their  austerity,  neither  their  maxims  nor 
their  plainness  of  speech.  You  have  for  ever  on  your 
lips  the  praises  of  the  past,  while  your  life  diverges  from 
it  day  by  day.  *  That  which  is  of  graver  moment  is 
that  the  ancient  religion  is  no  less  corrupted  than 
ancient  manners;  bear  witness  all  ye  divinities  of 
Egypt  and  the  East  which  encumber  Rome  !  Do 
we  not  see  Serapis  and  Isis  side  by  side  with  Jupiter  ?  " 

Proceeding  to  the  charges  laid  against  the  Christians, 
Tertullian  reduces  them  to  five  heads.  The  Christians 
are  accused,  first,  of  infamous  crimes  ;  but  this  impu- 
tation rests  wholly  upon  idle  rumour,  upon  the  wind, 
upon  hearsay.  The  defender  of  the  Church  does  not 
condescend  to  offer  any  detailed  justification  in  answer 
to  such  abominable  slanders.  He  appeals  to  simple 
humanity.  "  The  Christian,"  he  exclaims,  "  is  as  much 
a  man  as  thou,  his  accuser."  t  "  Furthermore,  it  well 
becomes  those  who  practise  the  infamies  with  which 
they  reproach  us,  to  bring  forward  such  accusations. 
Do  not  the  pagans  every  day  expose  their  own  children  ? 
Is  not  their  worship  a  worship  of  voluptuousness  and 
of  blood.?  "t 

On  the  second  charge,  Jthat  of  abandoning  the  gods 
of  the  empire  for  a  new  and  strange  god,  Tertullian 
enters    into    a    long    disquisition.       After   tracing   the 

*  "  Laudatis  semper  antiquitatem  et  novo  dc  die  vivitis."  (Ter- 
tullian, "Apologia,"  c.  vi.i 

f  "  Homo  est  enim  et  Christianus  et  quod  es  tu."  (Ibid., 
c.  xxviii.j  I  Ibid.,  c.  ix. 


152  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

national  worship  to  its  origin,  and  showing  that  these 
pretended  gods  were  but  men,  and  men  of  the  worst 
sort,  or  to  speak  more  truly,  demons,  since  they  have 
headed,  and  still  head,  a  veritable  school  of  crime  ;  after 
proving  that  they  are  in  truth  despised  and  ridiculed 
by  their  worshippers  themselves,  who  have  no  scruple 
in  letting  them  be  made  the  subject  of  the  buffooneries 
of  the  theatre,  he  draws  in  broad  outline  the  Christian 
doctrine,  and  sets  forth  its  true  beauty.* 

We  have  already  quoted  elsewhere  his  noble  reply  to 
the  charge  of  rebellion,  the  third  point  in  the  indict- 
ment of  the  enemies  of  the  Church.  In  tracing  with  a 
firm  hand  the  line  of  demarcation  between  spiritual 
and  secular  societies,  he  maintains  the  rights  of  God 
and  those  of  the  emperor ;  and  he  can  without  servility, 
and  in  the  name  of  religious  duty,  show  that  the 
Christian  scrupulously  obeys  the  laws  of  the  empire, 
that  he  has  no  part  in  the  seditions  which  are  con- 
stantly arising,  and  that  he  never  ceases  to  pray  for 
his  persecutors.  "  The  Church,  which  is  no  longer  a 
small  sect,  but  is  spread  over  the  whole  empire,  knows 
her  strength ;  if  she  does  not  use  it,  it  is  because  she 
has  learned  to  respect  in  the  temporal  powers  a  divine 
institution."  t 

The  Christians  were  told  that  it  was  they  who  drew 
down  upon  the  empire  the  terrible  scourges  with  which  it 
was  visited — war,  famine,  pestilence.  "Let  us  be  told 
then,"  replies  Tertullian,  "  why  these  plagues  did  not 
await  our  coming.  The  Christian  sect  had  no  exist- 
ence when  a  storm  of  fire  devoured  the  country  around 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  The  earth  is  still  breathing 
forth  the  smoke  of  that  conflagration.  J     There  was  no 

*  Tertullian,  "Apologia,"  c.  x.-xxviii.         f  Ibid.,  c.  xxix.-xl. 
I  "  Olct  adhuc  incendio  terra."      (Ibid.,  c.  xi.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  153 

worshipper  of  the  true  God  in  Rome  when  Hannibal, 
after  Cannae,  measured  by  bushels  the  -rings  of  the 
Roman  knights  slain  on  the  battle-field.  All  your  gods 
were  adored  by  all  the  citizens  when  the  Gauls  took 
possession  of  the  Capitol.-  No  calamity  has  befallen 
your  cities  which  has  not  struck  the  temples  as  well  as 
the  ramparts  ;  the  gods  could  not  have  been  the  authors 
of  disasters  of  which  they  themselves  were  the  victims. 
Cease,  then,  to  attribute  these  visitations  to  a  senseless 
cause.  The  crimes  of  humanity  are  many  enough  and 
flagrant  enough,  to  explain  the  severity  of  the  Divine 
chastisements.  Mankind  has  always  merited  ill  of 
Deity,  t  If  some  scourges  are  spared,  it  is  due  to  the 
prayers  of  the  Christians  ;  for,  while  the  pagans  aban- 
don themselves  to  a  thousand  idle  practices,  while  they 
live  on  in  debauch,  while  they  haunt  places  of  ill-fame, 
and  at  the  same  time  sacrifice  to  Jupiter  and  seem 
to  expect  the  descent  of  rain  from  the  vaults  of 
their  temples,  the  Christians,  wasted  and  wounded, 
deprived  of  all  the  joys  of  life,  covered  with  sackcloth 
and  ashes,  implore  grace  from  heaven  ;  and  yet,  when 
their  prayers  are  heard,  it  is  to  Jupiter  the  incense  is 
offered. t  If  it  is  asked  why  do  these  favourites  of  the 
Deity  share  in  the  ills  so  largely  dispensed  to  the 
world,  they  reply  that  these  ills  touch  them  not.  They 
have  no  concern  for  anything  in  this  world,  unless 
it  be  for  this  one  thing — to  be  speedily  delivered  from 
it."  § 

*  "  Omnes  dei  vestri  ab  omnibus  colebantur  cum  ipsum  Capi- 
tolium  Senones  occupavcrunt."     (Tertullian,  "  Apologia,"  c.  xl.) 

■f  "Semper  humana  gentes  male  de  Deo  meruit."     (Ibid.) 

I  "  Jejuniis  aridi  et  omni  continentia  expressi  in  sacco  et  cinere 
volutantes  Deum  tangimus,  Jupiter  honoratur  a  vobis."      (Ibid.) 

§  "Nihil  nostra  refert  in  hoc  asvo,  nisi  de  eo  quam  celeriter 
excidere."     (Ibid.,  c.  xli.j 

11 


154  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

These  considerations  bring  Tertullian  to  the  refuta- 
tion of  the  last  indictment  against  the  Christians,  that 
of  withdrawing  from  common  life,  and  being  useless 
members  of  society.  He  has  no  difficulty  in  showing 
that  a  Christian  remains  in  the  world,  though  he  sepa- 
rates himself  from  the  evil  of  it.  To  the  objection  that 
through  the  Christians  the  revenues  of  the  altar  are 
diminished,  Tertullian  replies  that  the  Church  cannot 
succour  at  the  same  time  the  mendicity  of  gods  and 
men,  and  she  prefers  to  distribute  to  those  whose  needs 
are  manifest.  Let  Jupiter  stand  and  beg  by  the  road- 
side, and  he  shall  receive  an  alms  !  Christian  charity 
gives  larger  offerings  to  the  poor  in  the  streets  than  the 
pagans  carry  to  their  temples.*  In  very  truth,  he  adds, 
it  is  not  our  austerity,  but  your  barbarities  which 
alienate  so  many  thousands  of  the  citizens. 

Some  pages  are  devoted  to  the  refutation  of  the  prin- 
cipal objections  of  pagan  philosophy.  They  conclude 
very  wisely  thus  :  "  Even  supposing  our  dogmas  were 
utter  folly,  they  would  do  no  harm  to  any  one  ;  they 
would,  in  that  case,  only  resemble  many  other  idle  and 
foolish  notions,  which  incur  no  penalty  because  they 
are  innocent.  Such  errors  ought  to  be  punished  by 
ridicule,  not  by  sword  and  fire,  the  cross  and  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  arena,  "t  The  peroration  of  the  ''Apology" 
reads  like  the  triumphal  paean  of  martyrdom.  "  I  am 
a  Christian,"  says  Tertullian,  "  only  because  I  will  so 
to  be.  You  condemn  me  therefore  only  at  my  pleasure. 
If,  then,  you  can  only  use  your  power  against  me  by 
my  own  consent,  that  power  depends  in  fact   not  upon 

*  "  Cum  interim  plus  nostra  misericordia  insumit  vicatim  quam 
vestra  religio  templatim."     (Tertullian,  "Apologia,"  c.  xlii.) 

t  "  In  ejusinodi  errores,  si  utique,  irrisu  judicandum  est,  non 
gladiis  et  ignibus  et  crucibus  et  bestiis."     (Ibid.,  c.  xlix.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  155 


your  will  but  mine.  Let  tbe  crowd  applaud  our  suffer- 
ings as  it  will.  Those  sufferings  are  our  triumph,  for  we 
love  rather  to  be  condemned  of  men  than  to  be  forsaken 
of  God.  Our  enemies  ought  to  mourn  instead  of  re- 
joicing, for  we  have  obtained  that  which  we  chose.* 
Why  complain  then,  you  will  say,  of  a  persecution 
which  pleases  you  ?  You  ought  to  highly  esteem  those 
who  procure  for  you  these  coveted  sufferings.  We, 
indeed,  freely  accept  our  sufferings,  we  reply,  as  men 
accept  war,  which  none  like  for  its  own  sake,  but  the 
perils  and  pains  of  which  they  readily  endure  in  case  of 
need.  Though  they  love  not  war,  nevertheless  they  fight 
with  all  their  strength,  and  the  conqueror,  who  at  first 
murmured  at  the  necessity  to  fight,  rejoices  in  the  end 
because  of  the  glory  and  the  spoils  which  he  has  won  in 
the  combat.  Our  battle-field  is  the  tribunal,  where  we 
fight  for  truth  at  the  peril  of  our  life.  Victory  consists 
in  gaining  that  for  which  men  have  fought ;  our  victory 
is  the  glory  of  pleasing  God,  and  our  gain  is  eternal 
life.  We  are  put  to  death;  what  of  that  ?  Death  gives 
us  our  crown. t  Our  sacrifice  is  our  triumph,  and  the 
foe  who  smites,  delivers  us.  Revile  us,  if  you  will,  be- 
cause we  are  bound  to  a  stake  and  burned  with  fuel  of 
wood.  That  flaming  vesture  which  enwraps  us  is  our 
purple  robe  of  royalty  ;  thus  it  is  we  gain  the  palm  and 
mount  the  car  of  victory.!  We  can  all  understand  the 
rage  of  those  whom  we  have  vanquished,   and   how  in 


*  ''  Ouum  vero  quod  in  mc  potes,  nisi  vclim,  non  potes,  jam 
mea?  voluntatis  est  quod  potes,  non  tuse  potestatis."  (Tertullian, 
"  Apologia,"  c.  xlix.) 

f  "  Sed  obducimur  certe  cum  obtinuimus  ;  ergo  vincimus  cum 
occidimur,  denique  evadimus  cum  obducimur."     <  Ibid.,  c.  l.l 

;■  "  Licet  nunc  sarmenticios  et  semaxios  appelletis,  hie  est 
habitus  victoria?  nostrae  hacc  palmata  vestis.tali  curru  triumphamus." 
(Ibid.) 


I56  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

their  fury  they  treat  us  as  desperate  men.  And  yet 
that  which  you  scoff  at  in  us,  you  regard  as  highest 
courage  when  inspired  by  fame  and  love  of  glory. 
Mutius  Scsevola,  of  his  own  free  will,  holds  his  hand  in 
the  fire  of  the  altar  till  it  is  consumed.  Most  noble 
Mutius  !  Empedocles  casts  himself  into  the  flames  of 
Etna.  Heroic  spirit  !  The  foundress  of  Carthage 
makes  herself  a  victim  on  the  funeral  pile  to  avoid 
a  second  marriage.  O  glorious  chastity  !  Regulus, 
giving  his  life  as  a  ransom,  endures  a  thousand  agonies. 
O  true  patriot !  O  conquering  captive !  O  glory !  (say  we) 
owned  and  lauded  because  it  is  human,  not  regarded  as 
the  madness  of  ruined  and  desperate  men,  though  it 
leads  to  the  contempt  of  death,  and  of  death's  worst 
anguish.  You  tolerate  these  sacrifices  because  they 
are  offered  for  country,  for  native  land,  for  the  empire, 
for  friendship  ;  if  they  wrere  offered  only  to  God,  it  w«uld 
be  another  thing.*  To  these  heroes  you  erect  statues  ; 
you  make  their  memory  immortal  by  your  marbles  and 
monumental  tablets  ;  and  so  far  as  it  can  be  done  by 
such  means,  you  procure  for  them  a  sort  of  resurrection 
from  the  dead.  But  if  a  man  appears,  who,  in  order 
that  he  may  attain  to  the  true  resurrection,  is  ready  to 
suffer  for  God,  he  is  a  fool  !  Go  on  your  way.,  O  excel- 
lent magistrates,  the  more  excellent  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people,  the  more  victims  you  make  of  the  Christians. 
Crucify  us,  torture  us,  condemn  us,  crush  us  :  your 
iniquity  is  the  strongest  proof  of  our  innocence.  God 
permits  that  we  endure  such  sufferings.  By  condemn- 
ing Christian  women  to  dishonour  rather  than  to  the 
lions,  you  prove  that  the  stain  of  infamy  is  to  us  worse 

*  "  Tantum  pro  patria,  pro  agro,  pro  imperio,  pro  amicitia 
pati  permissum  est,  quantum  pro  Deo  non  licet."  (Tertullian, 
"  Apologia,"  c.  1.) 


ROOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  157 

than  all  tortures.*  Of  what  avail,  in  fine,  is  all  the  re- 
finement of  your  cruelty,  hut  to  add  one  charm  the  more 
to  our  sect  ?  Decimated  by  you,  we  grow  in  numbers  ; 
the  martyrs'  blood  is  the  seed  of  the  Church.  Many  of 
your  philosophers  have  uttered  noble  exhortations  to 
the  courageous  endurance  of  suffering  and  death,  as 
Cicero  in  his  'Tusculana;'  Seneca,  Diogenes,  and 
Pyrrho  in  their  writings.  Their  eloquence  made  not 
so  many  disciples  as  the  death  of  the  Christians  has 
made.  This  obstinacy  with  which  you  reproach  them, 
is  the-  most  powerful  teaching. t  Who  is- there,  who, 
in  seeing  them  die,  would  not  be  stirred  up  to  inquire 
what  there  is  in  their  doctrine  ?  Who,  after  such  an 
examination  into  it,  would  not  be  ready  to  embrace  it  ? 
Who,  once  enrolled  beneath  its  standard,  would  not 
yearn  to  suffer  for  it  ?  Therefore  it  is  we  render  you 
thanks  for  your  condemnation  of  us ;  since  it  is  the 
declaration  of  the  war  of  earth  against  heaven.  *  Con- 
demned by  you,  we  are  absolved  by  God."  % 

The  pagan  magistracy  was  not  worthy  to  hear  such 
words  as  these.  This  Tertullian  well  knew,  and  there- 
fore he  appealed  to  a  tribunal  higher  than  that  of  earth, 
which  revoked  in  heaven  the  iniquitous  decrees  of 
human  judges,  before  it  overthrew  the  judges  them- 
selves, and  the  whole  social  edifice  of  which  they  were 
the  supports.  For  the  moment,  no  justice  was  to  be 
looked  for  in  the  empire;  and  persecution,  encouraged 
by  Severus,  went  on  raging  fiercely  against  the  Church. 

*  In  this  sentence  there  is  a  play  on  the  words  leno  and  leo, 
which  cannot  be  brought  out  in  a  translation. 

f  "  Nee  tamen  tantos  inveniunt  verba  discipulos  quantos 
Christiani  factis  docendo.  Ilia  ipsa  obstinatio  quam  exprobratis 
magistra  est."     (Tertullian,  "Apologia,"  c.  1.) 

I  "  Ut  est  aemulatio  divinas  rei  et  humanae,  cum  damnamur  a 
vobis  a  Deo  absolvimur."     (Ibid.) 


I58  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

It  broke  out  first  in  Egypt.  The  earliest  blows  fell 
upon  the  flourishing  Church  of  Alexandria.*  Surrounded 
with  powerful  enemies,  who  were  irritated  by  its  pros- 
perity, it  drew  all  eyes  upon  itself  by  its  great  school 
of  apologists  recently  founded.  The  Christians  from 
all  points  of  the  country  flowed  into  the  metropolis  of 
Egypt.  They  came  even  from  the  depths  of  the  desert, 
there  to  suffer  martyrdom.  Leonides,  the  father  of 
Origen,  was  put  to  death  in  this  persecution.  A  young 
woman,  named  Potamieena,  of  singular  beauty,  who  had 
resisted  all  solicitations  and  importunities,  was  distin- 
guished by  the  firmness  she  maintained  in  the  presence 
of  her  judges.  She  was  moved  neither  by  the  threat  of 
torture,  nor  by  the  thousand-fold  more  terrible  threat  of 
being  given  up  to  the  gladiators,  well  knowing  that  if 
they  could  injure  the  body,  they  could  not  defile  the 
soul.  Basilides,  one  of  the  soldiers  who  led  her  out  to 
suffer,  was  profoundly  impressed  by  her  calm  courage 
in  the  midst  of  terrible  anguish ;  he  protected  her 
against  the  vile  outrages  of  the  crowd,  up  to  the  very 
moment  when  she  was  thrown  into  the  boiling  pitch. 
A  short  time  after  he  saw  in  a  dream  the  young  virgin 
smiling  and  triumphant,  and  she  placed  upon  his  head 
a  crown,  telling  him  she  had  prayed  for  him.t  He 
understood  at  once  at  what  price  he  must  really  win 
the  offered  crown.  He  embraced  the  first  opportunity 
to  confess  his  faith  before  his  comrades  in  arms,  by 
refusing  to  take  a  pagan  oath.  This  was  to  devote 
himself  to  death,  and  in  a  few  days  he  was  with  Pota- 
miaena  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

*  MaWra  tir\i]0vev,  ik  A\e£avcpaias.  (Eusebius, "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  VI. 
C.  1.) 

f  "SvKTbjp  t7rioTaaa  arktyavov  airov  tij  Kt<pa\y  7repi9ti<Ta  fit],  (pair}  r« 
7rapaictic\i}KLi>a.i  \apiv  avTov  tuv   Kvptov.      (Ibid.,  C.  5.) 


COOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  159 

The  persecution  was  even  more  violent  in  proconsular 
Africa  than  at  Alexandria.  Everything  tended  to 
render  it  there  peculiarly  sanguinary.  The  Christian 
Church  had,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  made  extra- 
ordinary progress  in  that  region.  It  had  so  increased 
as  to  threaten  open  peril,  or  to  be  at  least  a  formidable 
enemy  to  the  old  religion  of  the  empire.  The  African 
population  had  retained  an  element  of  barbarism  under 
the  outward  forms  of  an  advanced  and  corrupt  civilisa- 
tion. Violent  and  fanatic,  it  was  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
Christians.  Its  passions,  heated  under  an  African  sun, 
rendered  it  insatiable  in  voluptuousness,  furious  in  its 
hatred.  It  was  more  open  than  any  other  nationality  to 
the  influence  of  low  superstitions,  to  the  sorceries  of  the 
magicians,  and  to  the  infamous  and  cruel  religions  of 
the  East,  which  had  never  wholly  disappeared  from  its 
midst,  and  which  were  constantly  springing  afresh  into 
life.  Nowhere  did  persecution  assume  more  decidedly 
the  character  of  a  tumult  or  popular  rising.*  The  pro- 
consul Saturninus  took  the  initiative  even  before  he  was 
constrained  to  do  so  by  the  decree  of  Severus.t  The 
first  martyr  was  a  poor  slave  of  Punic  origin,  named 
Nymphonius.  In  the  year  200,  many  Christians  be- 
longing to  the  little  town  of  Scillita,  were  brought  to 
Carthage,  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  Saturnin. 
There  were  among  them  many  women.  Speratus,  who 
spoke  in  the  name  of  his  brethren,  was  enabled,  by  the 
frankness  and  nobleness  of  his  Christian  spirit,  to  foil 
all  the  artifices  of  his  captious  questioner,  to  mark  his 
respect  at  once  for  the  laws  of  God  and  for  those  of  the 

:::  See  Munter,  "  Primordia  Ecclcsice  Africans,"  p.  165-200,  for 
information  as  to  the  state  of  Africa  and  the  commencement  of  this 
persecution. 

f  "  Vigellius  Saturninus  qui  primus  hie  gladium  in  nos  egit." 
(Tertullian,  "  Ad  Scapulam,"  c.  iii.) 


l6o  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

emperor,  and  to  exhibit  that  union  of  gentleness  and 
heroism,  which  is  the  distinctive  trait  of  the  true 
martyr.  Speratus,  when  invited  by  Saturninus  to  swear 
by  the  genius  of  the  emperor,  replied  that  he  knew  not 
what  was  that  genius  ;  that  for  his  part,  he  served  the 
God  of  heaven,  the  King  of  kings,  whom  no  man  hath 
seen  or  can  see,  and  that  he  prayed  to  Him  for  his 
sovereign,  but  could  not  do  more  without  falling  into 
idolatry.  He  remained  immoveable,  as  did  his  com- 
panions in  captivity ;  and  when  the  proconsul  offered 
him  three  days  for  reflection,  he  exclaimed  that  neither 
three  days  nor  thirty  would  witness  in  him  any  change. 
The  sentence  of  beheadal  was  pronounced  and  im- 
mediately executed.*"  Some  years  later,  when  the 
persecution  had  become  general,  one  group  of  martyrs 
attracted  especial  observation.  In  it  were  found  several 
female  catechumens,  who  were  in  the  flower  of  youth  ; 
and  among  others,  two  frail,  delicate  women,  one  of 
whom,  Perpetua,  the  daughter  of  a  pagan  father  and  a 
Christian  mother,  bore  in  her  arms  a  new-born  child ; 
while  the  other,  named  Felicitas,  was  on  the  eve  of 
motherhood.  It  was  a  piteous  sight  to  behold  the  one 
nursing  the  tender  infant  at  her  breast  in  the  wretched 
dungeon,  and  the  other  bringing  her  first-born  into  the 
world  upon  a  noisome  bed  of  straw.  Perpetua  was 
reserved  for  yet  more  heartrending  trials.  The  horrors 
of  captivity  could  not  break  her  peace  and  joy  of  mind  ; 
we  have  already  adverted  to  the  glorious  visions  which 
lightened  the  darkness  around  her.  One  great  solace 
was  granted  to  the  prisoners.  The  deacons  of  the 
Church  had  succeeded  in  administering  baptism  to 
them,  and  now  they  found  their  way,  by  using  golden 
bribes,  into  the  cells  of  the  captives,  and  carried  to 
*  Sec  Ruinart's   "  Acta  Martyrum." 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  l6l 

them  the  holy  communion.  No  tortures  co.uld  avail  to 
shake  the  steadfastness  of  these  young  women.  The 
tears  and  supplications  of  a  father  were  more  hard  to 
bear,  because  the  grief  of  the  old  man  made  its  appeal, 
not  to  the  lower  elements  of  human  nature — the  love 
of  life  and  of  ease — but  to  the  highest  and  purest 
natural  affections.  Greater  than  Antigone,  the  Chris- 
tian daughter,  who  in  other  circumstances  would  have 
made  any  sacrifice  for  a  father,  could  yet,  with  a  heart 
more  deeply  wounded  by  his  grief  than  was  her  body 
by  the  instruments  of  torture,  sacrifice  the  most  sacred 
human  affection  to  that  stronger  attachment  which, 
with  a  holy  jealousy,  admits  no  hesitation  and  no 
reserve.  This,  as  we  have  already  observed,  was  the 
most  bitter  drop  in  her  cup  of  sorrow.  No  words  can 
describe  the  anguish  she  must  have  felt  when  the  old 
man  threw  himself  at  her  feet,  kissing  her  hands  and 
watering  them  with  his  tears,  while  he  besought  her  to 
give  him  back  his  child.  "  I  weep,"  she  exclaimed, 
"  over  the  white  hairs  of  my  father.  I  groan  because 
he  is  the  only  one  of  my  family  not  to  rejoice  in  my 
death.  Know,"  she  went  on,  "that  we  are  not  our 
own.  We  are  in  the  hands  of  God."  When,  a  few 
days  after,  at  the  festivals  in  honour  of  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  young  Caesar  Geta,  she  came  forth  with  the 
other  prisoners  to  fight  with  the  wild  beasts  before  a 
furious  multitude,  she  suffered  less  from  their  rough 
embrace  than  she  had  endured  under  the  caresses  of 
her  father.  Her  companion  in  captivity,  the  young 
Felicitas,  revealed  the  secret  of  her  heroism,  when,  in 
answer  to  her  gaolers,  who  told  her  that  the  anguish 
of  child-birth,  aggravated  as  it  was  by  prison  horrors, 
would  be  as  nothing  to  the  agonies  awaiting  her  in  the 
circus,  she  replied  :  "  Now  it  is  I  who  suffer;  but  then 


l62  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

another  will  suffer  for  me,  because  I  shall  be  suffering 
for  Him."  ' 

Septimus  Severus  left  the  empire,  in  the  year  211,  to 
his  two  sons  Caracalla  and  Geta.  This  naturally  gave 
rise  to  a  deadly  conflict  between  them,  which  could  only 
be  terminated  by  the  violent  death  of  one  or  the  other. 
Caracalla,  who  had  been  on  the  eve  of  parricide,  was 
not  likely  to  cherish  a  more  tender  regard  for  the  life 
of  his  brother.  When  he  had  achieved  his  criminal 
purpose,  and  through  the  blood  of  his  brother  mounted 
to  the  throne  of  the  world,  he  gave  the  rein  to  all  his 
vicious  passions.  He  was  another  of  those  mighty 
madmen,  who  had  all  the  treasures  and  armies  of  the 
empire  at  command  to  do  their  wild  behests.  Person- 
ating now  Achilles  and  now  Alexander,  the  imperial 
actor  wTent  from  place  to  place,  giving  representations 
which  cost  the  people  dear,  and  which  were  frequently 
turned  into  scenes  of  blood;  as  at  Alexandria,  where,  as 
a  punishment  for  some  epigrams  made  at  his  expense, 
he  slaughtered  thousands  of  the  unarmed  citizens. 
This  wretched  and  vile  madman  (who  fell  at  length  by 
the  hand  of  Macrinus,  a  prefect  of  the  guards)  gave 
the  sanction  of  the  Roman  legislature  to  the  great 
social  progress  attending  the  onward  movement  of 
thought,  in  his  famous  decree  according  the  rights  of 
citizenship  to  all  the  free  men  of  the  empire.  He  thus 
broke  down  for  ever  the  narrow  barriers  of  the  old 
nationalities.*  The  Church  again  enjoyed  some  respite 
during  his  reign,  either  because  the  Christian  nurse, 
by  whom  he  had  been  brought  up,  had  favourably 
disposed  him  towards   the   new   religion,    or  because, 

*  See  the  very  novel  commentary  on  this  important  measure  in 
"  L'Histoire  de  TEglise  et  de  l'Empire  au  quatrieme  siecle."  (M.  de 
Broglie,  Vol.  I.  p.  31.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  163 

absorbed  in  his  own  follies,  he  had  no  leisure  to  attend 
to  it.  We  cannot  ascribe  to  Caracalla  the  persecution 
which  raged  in  Africa  in  the  year  211,  under  the  pro- 
consul Scapula,  and  which  called  forth  the  eloquent 
letter  of  Tertullian  to  that  governor,  already  mentioned 
by  us  as  the  noblest  vindication  of  religious  freedom ;  that 
persecution  was  merely  the  continuation  of  the  severe 
measures  following  on  the  decree  of  Severus.  The 
epistle  to  Scapula  is  a  concise,  powerful  epitome  of  the 
"  Apology  ;  "  it  defines  with  more  clearness  and  vigour 
the  rights  of  conscience,  and  flings  back  yet  more 
boldly  the  challenge  to  the  persecutors.  "  As  for  our- 
selves" (thus  the  letter  opens),  "  we  neither  blanch  nor 
tremble  before  the  ills  inflicted  on  us  by  those  who 
know  us  not.  The  first  condition  for  every  one  who 
enrols  himself  in  this  sect,  is  that  he  venture  his  life  in 
the  field  ;  we  have  but  one  desire,  to  attain  to  that  which 
God  promises  ;  we  have  but  one  fear,  that  of  the  pains 
of  another  life.  All  your  cruelty  cannot  make  us  flinch 
from  the  conflict ;  we  go  forth  to  meet  it,  and  are  more 
happy  when  you  strike  than  when  you  spare.  If,  then, 
we  send  you  this  epistle,  it  is  not  that  we  fear  for  our- 
selves ;  it  is  rather  for  your  sake,  who  are  our  enemies.* 
Nay,  what  say  I  ?  you  are  our  friends;  for  we  are  bound 
to  love  our  enemies,  and  to  pray  for  them  that  despitefully 
use  us  and  persecute  us ;  and  herein  is  manifest  the 
great  virtue  of  our  religion,  for  all  men  love  their  friends, 
but  only  Christians  love  their  enemies.  For  your 
sake,  because  we  grieve  over  your  ignorance,  and  are 
filled  with  pity  for  human  error, — because  we  know  the 
future  in  store  for  you,  and  see  every  day  the  precursive 

*  "  Itaque  hunc  libcllum,  non  nobis  trimcntes  misimus,  sed  vobis 
et  omnibus  immicis  nostris  nedum  amicis."  (Tertullian,  "Ad 
Scapulam,"  c.  i.) 


164      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

signs  of  its  approach, — we  feel  it  incumbent  to  warn 
you  by  letters  of  that  which  you  refuse  to  hear  from 
our  lips."  * 

A  rapid  refutation  of  the  charges  brought  by 
the  pagans,  gives  a  keener  point  to  the  conclusive 
reasoning  of  the  "Apology,"  and  the  author  yet  more 
distinctly  asserts  the  liberty  of  religion.  After  showing 
that  the  Christian  is  not  a  sacrilegist,  and  in  no  way 
resembles  those  miserable  men  who  rob  the  gods  of  the 
empire  in  their  own  temples,  all  the  while  they  are 
swearing  by  their  name  ;  after  proving  that  he  is  no 
seditious  person,  since  he  calls  upon  God  for  the  em- 
peror, and  offers  the  incense  of  his  prayers  to  heaven 
on  his  rulers'  behalf,  Tertullian  proceeds  from  the 
defensive  to  the  offensive,  and  warns  his  persecutors  of 
the  impending  wrath  of  Heaven,  if  they  persevere  in 
their  evil  course.  "  Has  not  the  barrenness  of  the  soil 
been  a  visitation  for  the  prohibition  recently  laid  upon 
the  Christians  to  visit  the  tombs  of  their  martyrs  ? 
Have  not  the  torrents  of  rain  in  the  past  year 
menaced  the  earth  with  a  second  deluge  ?  Have  not 
wandering  lights  been  seen  by  night  on  the  walls  of 
Carthage  ?  Have  there  not  been  fearful  mutterings 
of  thunder  ?  These  are  so  many  precursive  signs  of  the 
anger  of  Heaven."  t  That  anger  has  already  fallen 
upon  the  persecutors,  as  Tertullian  proves  by  astonishing 
facts,  and  he  concludes  writh  this  bold  apostrophe : 
"  As  for  thee,  Scapula,  we  desire  that  the  present  sick- 
ness may  be  but  a  warning.  Remember  that  it  came 
upon  thee    after    thou    hadst    delivered    Adrumeticus 

*  "  Qui  ergo  dolemus  de  ignorantia  vestra  et  miseremur  erroris 
humani  et  futura  prospicimus  et  signa  eorum  quotidie  intentari 
videmus  necesse  est  vel  hoc  modo  erumpere  ad  propofienda  vobis 
ea  qua?  palam  non  vultis  audire."    ( Tertullian,  "  Ad  Scapulam,"  c.  i.) 

f  "  Omnia  haec  signa  sunt  imminentis  irae  Dei."      (Ibid.,  c.  iii.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  165 

Mavil  to  the  wild  beasts."-  "The  Christians,  inno- 
cent of  the  crimes  with  which  they  are  charged,  die  for 
justice,  chastity,  loyalty,  and  truth.  They  are  burned 
for  the  sake  of  the  living  God.  If  they  were  all  to  be 
extirpated,  every  family  would  be  clothed  in  mourning." 
Again  he  exclaims:  "Spare  Carthage,  spare  thyself. 
We  have  but  one  master,  that  is  God.  He  is  above 
thee  ;  He  cannot  be  hidden,  and  thou  canst  do  Him  no 
harm.  Those  whom  thou  callest  thy  masters  are  men, 
and  will  soon  die  ;  while  this  sect  is  immortal,  and 
thou  art  only  building  it  up  while  thou  wouldst  fain 
destroy  it."  t 

The  comparative  security  enjoyed  by  the  Church 
under  Caracalla  continued  during  the  two  following 
reigns.  Macrinus,  the  assassin  of  Caracalla,  had  but  a 
brief  rule  of  two  months.  He  suffered  not  for  his  crime, 
but  for  his  endeavours  at  reform  ;  and  after  him  (a.d. 
218)  the  imperial  crown  passed  to  a  young  man,  who,  in 
the  frame  of  an  Apollo,  carried  a  soul  stained  with  all 
vice  and  infamy.  This  was  Heliogabalus,  great-nephew 
by  his  mother  of  the  Empress  Julia  Domna,  the  wife  of 
Septimus  Severus.  His  name  was  borrowed  from  the 
Syrian  god,  whose  high  priest  he  was,  and  who,  like  all 
the  great  Oriental  deities,  was  no  other  than  the  sun, 
the  god  of  fecundity  and  of  sensuous  life.  The  reign  of 
Heliogabalus  was  a  wild  bacchanal  in  honour  of  his 
impure  idol.  Nothing  is  more  indicative  of  the  fearful 
disorganisation  of  the  age,  than  this  open  triumph  of  the 
old  religion  of  Asia,  celebrated  at  Rome  itself  by  a  suc- 
cessor of  Augustus.      It  is  the  revenge  of  the  East  over 

*  Tertullian,  "  Ad  Scapulam,"  c.  iii. 

f  "  Magistrum  ncminem  habemus  nisi  Dcum  solum.  Hie 
ante  te  est.  Ceterum  quos  putas  tibi  magistros,  homines  sunt  et 
ipsi  morituri  quandoque.  Nee  tamen  deficiet  haec  secta,  quam  tunc 
mads  aedificari  cum  caxli  vidctuiv'    (Ibid.,  c.  v.) 


l66  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  victorious  West — an  unworthy  revenge,  which  only 
sullies  that  which  it  cannot  supplant.  Heliogabalus 
had  a  splendid  temple  built  upon  Mount  Palatine  for 
the  Syrian  deity.  Thither  he  carried  with  great  pomp 
the  infamous  symbol  of  his  god,  and  all  the  ancient 
divinities  of  the  empire  were  to  form  the  train.  Mars, 
Vesta,  the  Palladium — all  that  was  held  sacred  at  Rome 
— was  transported  to  this  sanctuary  of  abominations.* 
Before  long  Heliogabalus  sought  in  his  native  country 
a  consort  for  his  god  ;  he  found  one  worthy  to  hold  such 
a  position  in  the  ancient  goddess  of  Asia  and  of  Car- 
thage— the  Phoenician  Astarte,  who  was  honoured  by 
murder  and  prostitution ;  and  the  nuptials  of  the  Sun  and 
Moon  were  celebrated  with  great  magnificence  from  one 
end  of  the  empire  to  the  other.  It  is  easy  to  conceive 
what  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  those  Romans  who 
cherished  the  spirit  of  the  past,  when  they  beheld  such 
spectacles,  and  were  perhaps  constrained  to  take  part  in 
them.  We  see  in  Heliogabalus  a  striking  demonstra- 
tion of  the  fact,  that  the  religions  of  nature,  left  to  their 
own  course,  end  in  the  destruction  of  all  that  is  natural. 
The  laws  of  nature  present  to  us  an  image  of  the  moral 
world;  they  show  the  workings  of  the  rule  of  order  and 
obligation  in  this  lower  sphere.  When  the  moral 
idea  has  been  absolutely  repudiated,  law  in  any  form 
becomes  obnoxious,  whether  in  the  domain  of  nature  or  of 
conscience.  Men  take  pleasure  in  infringing  it ;  law- 
lessness is  delighted  in  for  its  own  sake.  Hence  the 
boundless  extravagance,  the  indulgence  of  unnatural 
passions,  the  universal  disorder,  and  the  wild  orgies  of 
the  reign  of  Heliogabalus.  This  young  priest  of  the 
sun,   arrayed  in  woman's  garments,   surrounded  by   a 

*  "  Studens  omnia  Romanis  veneranda  in  illud  transferre  tem- 
plum."     (Lamprid.,  "In  Heliog.,"  c.  iii.j 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  167 

seraglio  of  youths,  feasting  upon  such  epicurean  dainties 
as  the  tongues  of  nightingales,  loving  only  infamous 
pleasures,  was  the  faithful  representative  of  the  religion 
of  Asia  carried  to  its  full  consequences  and  to  its  last 
excesses.  His  predilection  for  everything  Eastern, 
and  his  hatred  of  the  West,  predisposed  him  favourably 
to  Christianity,  of  which  he  knew  only  this  one  thing, 
that  it  had  been  persecuted  by  the  religion  which  he 
desired  to  destroy.  It  even  appears  that  he  had  some 
notion  of  embracing,  in  the  worship  of  the  sun,  all  the 
religions  of  the  earth,  and  specially  that  of  the  Jews 
and  Samaritans,  and  of  the  Christian  sect.  *  He 
imagined  that  as  they  were  nurtured  almost  in  the 
same  cradle,  these  religions  were  also  akin  in  their 
principles.  If  he  had  lived  longer  he  would  have  soon 
learned  his  error,  and  the  Christian  Church  would 
have  infallibly  become  the  object  of  his  senseless  fury. 
It  was  worthy  to  be  hated  by  such  a  monster  of 
iniquity,  t 

The  successor  of  Heliogabalus  was  Alexander  Severus, 
who  appeared  a  second  Marcus  Aurelius,  with  less  of 
severity  and  pride.  The  cousin  of  Heliogabalus  through 
his  mother  Mammaea  (by  whom  he  had  been  trained  up 
in  every  virtue)  the  new  master  of  the  world  brought  back 
the  first  days  of  the  empire.  The  portrait  drawn  of 
him  by  his  biographer  is  full  of  a  melancholy  charm. 
We  feel  that  his  noble  aspirations  are  checked  by  insur- 
mountable obstacles.  The  renovation  of  the  empire 
had  become  an  impossibility,  and  the  imperial  power, 
so  terrible  for  evil,  was  impotent  for  good.     It  was  not 

*  "Dicebat  pra?terea  Judreorum  ct  Samaritanorum  religiones  et 
Christianam  devotionem  illuc  transferendam  ut  omnium  cultura- 
rum  secretum  Heliogabale  saccrdotium  teneret."  (Lamprid.,  "In 
Heliog.,"  c.  iii.) 

f  See  Milman  on  the  reign  of  Heliogabalus. 


l68  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

by  a  decree  that  the  Senate  could  be  restored  to  its  true 
dignity;  it  needed  to  be  cured  of  its  deep-seated  corrup- 
tion. By  attempting  to  restore  discipline  in  the  army, 
an  emperor  imperilled  his  personal  safety,  and  devoted 
himself  to  certain  death,  as  is  proved  by  the  premature 
end  of  Alexander  Severus.  Any  restoration  of  religion 
was  even  more  impracticable  than  political  reform.  It 
was  vain  to  think  of  substituting  for  the  popular  super- 
stition a  religion  more  elevated  but  still  impotent — 
such  as  was  the  religion  of  the  more  distinguished 
spirits  of  the  time — a  religion  which  united  in  a  com- 
prehensive eclecticism  the  best  elements  of  the  various 
religions  of  the  past.  Alexander  Severus  could  do  no 
more  than  open  a  little  private  chapel  devoted  to  the 
objects  of  his  own  veneration,  while  the  most  hideous 
gods  of  Egypt  and  of  Asia  had  gorgeous  temples  at 
Rome.  It  is  well  known  that  he  set  up  in  his  palace 
statues  to  Orpheus  and  to  Abraham,  to  Apollonius  of 
Tyana,  and  to  Christ,  *  to  whom,  indeed,  he  was  dis- 
posed to  dedicate  a  temple ;  t  he  thus  rendered  homage 
to  the  various  influences  then  dividing  the  minds  of 
men.  He  honoured  at  once  the  old  Jewish  revelations, 
and  the  ancient  mysteries  of  Greece  idealised  in  the 
person  of  Orpheus.  He  placed  on  the  same  level  the 
mystical  magic  of  an  Eastern  ascetic  and  Christianity  ; 
but  this  strange  combination  showed  that  the  emperor 
had  no  true  knowledge  of  the  new  religion.  He  may 
have  been  so  struck  with  some  of  the  beautiful  maxims 
of  Gospel  morality,  such  as  this,  "  Do  unto  others  as 
ye  would   that  they  should  do  unto  you,"  as  to  have 

*  "  Matutinis  horis  in  larario  suo,  in  quo  et  divos  principes,  sed 
optimos, .  electos  ct  animas  sanctiores,  in  queis  et  Apollonium  et 
quantum  scriptor  suorem  temporum  dicit,  Christum  Abraham  et 
Orphoeum  rem  divinam  faciebat."    (Lamprid.,  "  In  Heliog.,"  c.  xliii.j 

f  "  Christo  templum  facere  vomit."    (Ibid.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE   EMPIRE.  169 

them  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold  on  his  palace  walls; 
but  he  could  have  had  no  conception  of  the  real  basis 
of  the  doctrines  of  Christ.  He  went  no  further  than 
that  syncretic  paganism  which  found  its  true  exponent 
in  neo-platonism.  Heliogabalus  had  raised  to  the  throne 
of  the  world,  the  corrupt  and  cruel  genius  of  Babylon 
and  of  Ephesus.  Alexander  Severus  elevated  to  the 
same  dignity  the  genius  of  Alexandria,  with  its  mystical 
theosophy  and  comprehensive  universalism,  but  also 
with  its  subtlety  and  powerlessness.  Nevertheless  this 
very  universalism  was  propitious  to  the  Church,  which 
found  in  Alexander  Severus  a  just  protector.  His 
mother  Mammsea  had  some  interviews  with  Origen. 
Alexander  himself  decided  in  favour  of  the  Christians, 
in  the  case  of  a  requisition,  made  without  just  cause,  by 
some  tavern-keepers  at  Rome,  that  a  spacious  house  in 
which  the  Christians  met  for  worship  might  be  closed. 
This  was  a  very  marked  indication  of  the  toleration  at 
this  time  enjoyed  by  them.  The  emperor  declared 
that  it  was  better  that  a  god,  be  he  who  he  might, 
should  be  worshipped  in  that  house,  than  that  it  should 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  tavern-keepers.  *  He  thus 
recognised  the  existence  of  the  Church,  t  He  so  much 
admired  its  constitution  that  he  was  desirous  to  intro- 
duce into  the  administration  of  the  empire  the  mode  of 
election  used  by  the' Church  in  the  designation  of  its 
pastors.  "He  intended,"  says  Lampridius,  "to  give 
governors,  magistrates,  or  procurators  to  the  provinces, 
and  in  order  to  ensure  reasonable  appointments  to  such 
offices,  he  proposed  their  names,  challenging  any 
charges   which    could    be    brought   against    them,   and 

*  "  Rescripsit  melius  esse,  ut  quomodocunque  illic  Deus  colatur, 
quam  popinanis  dedatur."     (Lamprid.,  "  In  Hcliog.,"  c.  xlvii.) 
f  "  Christianos  esse  passus  est."     (Ibid.) 

12 


170  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


threatening  death  to  calumniators.  He  said  that  it 
would  be  a  serious  reproach  if  Jews  and  Christians 
acted  thus  in  the  election  of  their  priests,  while  no  such 
form  was  observed  in  the  case  of  the  governors  of  pro- 
vinces, to  whom  are  entrusted  the  goods  and  the  life  of 
men."*  But  neither  this  admiration  nor  this  tolera- 
tion of  the  new  religion  conferred  on  it  the  freedom 
of  the  city,  or  gave  to  it  a  legal  status  in  the  empire. 
The  decree  of  Trajan,  far  from  being  abrogated,  was 
maintained,  and  the  juris-consult  Ulpian  carefully 
recorded  it  in  his  book,   "  De  Officio  Proconsulis."  t 

Under  the  reign  of  the  Syrian  princes,  the  Church 
was  greatly  troubled  by  the  Montanist  dissensions, 
which  caused  much  agitation  in  Italy  and  in  Africa. 
We  shall  see  that  at  this  time  the  hierarchical 
system  became  consolidated  at  Rome,  but  not  without 
calling  forth  severe  struggles,  of  which  the  treatise  of 
Hippolytus  upon  heresies,  recently  discovered,  and 
falsely  attributed  to  Origen,  has  preserved  to  us  a 
memorial,  vivid  and  pathetic  almost  to  passion.  The 
Gnostic  tendency  is  no  longer  headed  by  such  men  as 
Valentine  and  Marcion.  Theodotus  and  Cleomenes 
represent  it  at  Rome,  and  find  momentary  countenance 
from  some  of  the  high  dignitaries  of  the  Church. 

§  II.  The  Church  of  the  Empire,  from  Maximin  the 
Thracian  to  Diocletian. 

Maximin  the  Thracian  (235-238),  the  murderer  and 
successor  of    Alexander    Severus,    was    naturally    in- 

*  "  Dicebat  grave  esse  cum  id  Christiani  et  Judasi  facerent  in 
praedicandis  sacerdotibus,  qui  ordinandi  sunt,  non  fieri  in  provincia- 
rum  rectoribus,  quibus  et  iortunse  hominum  committerentur  et 
capita."     (Lamprid.,  "  In  Heliog.,"  c.  xlix.) 

i  Lactantius,  "  Institut.,"  Bk.  V.  c.  II.  Neander,  "  Church  His- 
tory," Vol.  I.  p.  126.     (Eng.  Trans.,  Bonn's  Edit.,  p.  174.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMTIRE.  171 

clined  to  visit  with  his  enmity  the  favourites  of  his  pre- 
decessor. He  was  a  giant,  predisposed  to  all  deeds  of 
violence,  alike  by  his  physical  and  mental  constitu 
tion.  His  first  act  was  to  condemn  to  death  several 
Christians,  who  had  formed  part  of  the  household  of 
Alexander.  The  persecution  was  aimed  primarily  at  the 
bishops,  whom  the  new  emperor  regarded  as  the  chiefs 
of  a  hostile  faction,  attached  by  gratitude  to  the  person 
of  his  victims.*  Beyond  this,  the  persecution  was  not 
of  extraordinary  violence.  It  was  local,  and  therefore 
left  open  to  the  Christians  the  possibility  of  flight. t 
Special  circumstances  contributed  to  render  it  more 
cruel  in  Pontus  and  Cappadocia.  Fearful  earthquakes, 
swallowing  up  entire  cities,  had  revived  the  fury  of  a 
fanatic  people  always  inclined  to  impute  such  visitations 
to  the  new  religion. J  "  We  have  seen,"  says  Origen 
in  his  Commentary,  written  shortly  after  these  events, 
"  persecution  breaking  out  afresh  upon  the  Church  in 
consequence  of  some  earthquakes  which  spread  great 
desolation,  and  which  were  attributed  by  the  impious  to 
the  Christians.  Even  those  who  appeared  wise  men 
joined  in  repeating  this  accusation  in  public.  §  It  was 
at  this  same  period  that  Origen  wrote  his  "Exhortation 

*  *0c  C/)  Kara  kotov  tuv  Trpbg  tov  'A\t%ui'cpov  oIkov  Ik  ttKuovojv  ttigtojv 
(TWMTTuJTa,  ciioyfiov  tyelpag,  rovg  tow  iKicXijmojv  ap\ovTag  /.tovovg, 
avaipiioQat  irpooraTTu.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Bk.  VI.  C.  28.) 

t  "  Erat  transeundi  facultas  eo,  quod  persecutio  ilia  non  per 
totum  mundum,  sed  localis  fuisset.''  (Firmilianus,  apud  Cypriani. 
"  Epistol. ,"  Epist.  lxxv.j 

\  "  Ut  per  Cappadociam  et  per  Pontum  quaedam  etiam  civitatcs  in 
profundum  recepta?  dirupti  soli  hiatu  devorarentur,  ut  ex  hoc  per- 
secutio quoque  gravis  adversus  nos  Christiani  nominis  neret." 
(Ibid.) 

§  Origen,  "  Commentary  on  Matthew/' Vol.  XXVIII.  (Delarue 
Edit,  Vol.  III.  p.  859.) 


172  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

to  Martyrdom,"  *  on  the  occasion  of  the  imprisonment 
of  his  friend  Ambrosius  and  of  the  priest  Protoctetus. 
This  treatise  was  no  doubt  designed  to  be  read  in  all 
the  prisons  where  the  Christians  were  confined.  Such 
manly  counsels  were  in  truth  needed,  for  the  moral 
enervation,  to  which  we  have  already  alluded  in  speak- 
ing of  the  persecution  under  Severus,  had  become  yet 
more  prevalent  in  the  Church  during  a  time  of  repose 
and  even  of  favour,  which  had  drawn  into  its  bosom 
many  adherents  of  doubtful  constancy.  The  crucible 
of  trial,  which  was  once  again  to  be  held  over  the 
heated  furnace,  wrould  act  as  a  salutary  purifier  and 
refiner.  But  even  faithful  Christians  had  not  breathed 
with  impunity  the  tainted  air  of  indifference.  They,  too, 
needed  to  be  sharply  warned,  and  Origen's  treatise  was 
for  them  a  thrilling  reminder  of  the  ancient  heroism  of 
the  Church.  We  shall  not  enlarge  here  on  its  special 
tenets  ;  these  we  reserve  for  our  exposition  of  his 
theology.  We  shall  only  now  advert  to  that  which  was 
intended  to  brace  the  hearts  of  the  Christian  captives. 
Origen  commences  with  general  reflections  on  the 
shortness  of  the  sufferings  of  the  present  life  compared 
with  the  glory  io  come,  and  on  the  blessedness  of  a 
speedy  death,  which,  delivering  us  from  the  body,  re- 
moves from  before  our  eyes  the  heavy  veil  which  hides 
from  us  the  vision  of  God.t  He  then  sets  forth  the 
superiority  of  martyrdom  over  all  other  forms  of  death. 
W hile  other  men  are  often  found  willing  to  suffer  for  a 
particular  virtue,  such  as  sobriety,  wisdom,  justice,  the 
Christian  dies  for  nothing  less  than  God  Himself.  + 
How  carefully  then  must  Christians  be  on  their  guard 

*  Redepenning.  "  Origines,"  Vol.  II.  p.  15. 

t  "Ad  Martyr./' c.  ii. 

\  Uepi  tt]q  tuatfitiac  \10vov  to  tKK\eKTuv  aytoviZtTai  yivog.  (Ibid.,  C.  V.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  173 

against  any  sort  of  abjuration,  even  should  it  present 
itself  in  the  most  modified  form.  Apostasy  is  the  worst 
description  of  adultery,  for  it  severs  the  soul  from  the 
heavenly  Bridegroom,  who  loves  it  with  holy  jealousy,* 
and  joins  it  to  him  for  whom  the  faith  of  Christ  is 
abjured.  The  alliance  contracted  between  the  soul  and 
God,  rests  on  certain  conditions,  which  are  summed 
up  in  complete  devotedness  to  Christ. t  "  Our  self- 
renunciation  should  go  so  far  that  we  may  be  able  to  say, 
'  It  is  no  more  I  that  live.'  Then  we  shall  have  truly 
taken  up  our  cross  to  follow  Christ ;  and  thus  it  will  be, 
if  He  indeed  lives  in  us.  Those  who  are  favoured 
with  this  world's  goods,  as  was  Abraham,  will  find  in 
their  riches  the  means  of  offering  to  God  a  more  com- 
plete sacrifice,  to  be  compensated  to  them  a  hundredfold 
by  that  which  He  has  in  reserve  for  them.  Just  as  those 
who  have  passed  through  torture,  and  manifold  suffering, 
and  pains,  have  shown  in  martyrdom  more  special  and 
signal  virtue,  than  those  who  have  experienced  no  such 
trials;  so  those  who  have  broken  the  bonds  of  ease  and 
self-indulgence,  being  moved  by  a  great  love  for  the 
God  from  whom  they  have  received  the  sharp  and  two- 
edged  sword  of  the  immortal  word,  have,  by  this  very 
renunciation,  taken  unto  themselves  eagles'  wings  on 
which  to  mount  to  the  house  of  their  Lord."  J  In 
setting  forth  the  glories  of  martyrdom,  Origen  rises  to 
an  eloquence  which  reminds  us  of  Tertullian,  without, 
however,  losing  that  higher  power  of  thought  by  which 
he  is  ever  distinguished.  We  have  already  quoted  the 
noble  passage  in  which  he  represents  all  heaven  atten- 
tive  to   the    conflict    of    the    humble    confessor,   often 

*  &r](ji  7rpvg  t>)v  vvp,(f>i]v  4>VX")V  0£°£  flvai  '£)}\u>ti)q.  ("  Ad  Mar- 
,yf.,"  c.  ix.i  t  Ibid.,  c.  xii. 

X  KaTa<TKevd<ravr£Q  tavrolc  Trrspvyag  (oawtp  aerog  tTriarpixpai  elg  rbv 
oIkov  too  7rpo£ari)KuTur  iaVTUV.      (Ibid.  C.  XV.) 


174  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

scarcely  noted  upon  earth.  He  depicts  in  glowing 
colours  the  heroism  of  the  great  servants  of  God 
under  the  old  covenant,  and  in  particular  that  of  the 
Maccabees,  whose  courageous  mother  he  sets  before  us, 
calm  and  intrepid  in  view  of  their  suffering,  because,  in 
her  own  poetical  words,  the  dew  of  piety  quenched 
within  her  the  ardent  flame  of  a  mother's  grief.*  The 
example  of  the  Divine  sufferer  is  finally  held  forth  to 
His  fainting  disciples.  Let  them  never,  in  the  midst 
of  sorrow  and  reproach,  lose  sight  of  the  triumph 
which  awaits  them  !  "  Let  us  not  marvel,  if  before 
attaining  to  that  blessedness,  to  that  untroubled  peace 
and  calm,  we  should  have  to  pass  through  a  rough, 
wintry  storm.  When  the  winter  is  over,  when  its 
showers  have  fallen,  the  flowers  will  appear,  and  the 
righteous  shall  flourish,  planted  in  the  house  of  their 
God.  t  The  hatred  of  the  world  gives  no  ground  for 
surprise  ;  none  who  have  not  passed  from  death  unto 
life  can  love  those  who  have  attained  to  this  divine  life, 
and  who,  from  the  dark  abode  of  the  dead,  have  been 
brought  into  the  habitations  of  light,  where  God  dwells.^ 
The  day  of  the  Christian's  triumph  has  already  risen 
upon  us,  §  for  by  our  glorious  sufferings,  endured  with 
Christ,  we  tread  under  our  feet  principalities  and 
powers.  Let  us  show  greatness  of  soul  in  all  that 
befalls  us."  After  some  lengthened  dissertations  on 
demons,  and  on  the  purifying  virtue  of  martyrdom, 
Origen  returns  to  the  main  current  of  thought  in  his 
book  with  these  words  :  "  We  have  heard  the  words  of 

*  Apbaoi   tuatfitiag  to   Trvivfia   omurrjTog   ovk  uojv  avcnrrtoOai  iv  ToXg 
oTT^ayXvoig  to  jj.)]Tf)iicbv7rup.     ("  Ad  Martyr.,"  c.  xxvii.) 

f  MtTii  dt  to  TrapekQeiv tov xzm&va,  TudvOi]  O00/J<rerai.    (Ibid.,  C.  XXxi.) 

X   Ibid.,  c.  xli. 

§  'EvkijTri  t'l/Mv  Kaipbg  xpL{TTiav<^v  KavX)l<r£(JjV-      (Ibid.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  175 

Jesus  Christ,  and  we  have  long  embraced  the  Gospel. 
The  present  conflict  will  show  what  is  our  foundation — 
whether  we  have  built  upon  the  solid  rock  or  on  the 
unstable  sand  ;  for  lo  !  the  tempest  is  coming  upon  us, 
the  rain  and  the  wind  and  the  floods.  Either  our  house 
will  stand  unshaken,  because  built  upon  the  rock,  which 
is  Jesus  Christ,  or  its  fall  will  prove  its  unsoundness. 
God  preserve  our  building  !  for  apostasy  is  a  fearful 
downfall,  and  as  St.  Luke  says,  '  The  ruin  of  that  house 
is  great.'  Let  us  then  ask  God  that  we  may  be  like 
the  wise  man  who  built  his  house  upon  the  rock.  Let 
the  evil  spirits  which  are  abroad  in  the  air,  let  the 
authorities  and  powers  of  the  world,  storm  like  a  deluge 
against  a  house  thus  built  ;  let  the  fierce  winds  of 
the  powers  of  this  generation  blow  upon  it ;  let  hell 
itself  dash  against  the  rock  which  supports  such  a 
building,  and  they  will  give  less  convincing  proof  of 
their  own  violence,  than  of  the  firmness  of  our  house, 
which  cannot  be  shaken."  * 

Origen  and  his  contemporaries  were  destined  to 
witness  the  bursting  of  a  more  terrible  storm  upon  the 
Church  than  the  persecutions  of  Maximin,  who  fell  in  a 
tumult  under  the  walls  of  Aquileia.  There  were  a  few 
intervening  days  of  calm  under  the  reign  of  Philip  the 
Arabian.  This  emperor  had  dyed  his  purple  robe  in  the 
blood  of  the  young  Gordianus,  who  had  been  for  a  brief 
instant  saluted  emperor  after  the  violent  death  of  his 
father  and  grandfather,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
murder  of  Maximin  and  of  Balbinus,  whom  the  same 
senate  had  appointed  successors  to  the  first  Gordians. 
(244.)  Philip  the  Arabian  was  favourable  to  the  Chris- 
tians, for  the  same  reason  which  had  induced  Maximin 

*  "Iva  \ir\  jiovov  ivp'og  to  jii)  TrtatTv,  a\\a  fxrjdi  GaXcvOijvai  ti)v  cip\Uv 
oUiav.     ("  Ad  Martyr.,"  c.  xlviii.) 


T?6  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

the  Thracian  to  persecute  them  ;  he  was  tolerant  out  of 
hatred  to  his  predecessor.  This  was  not  enough,  how- 
ever, to  make  him  a  Christian.  We  cannot,  therefore, 
attach  any  credibility  to  the  story  of  his  conversion, 
even  though  Eusebius  relates  (without,  however, 
pledging  himself  to  its  truth)  a  very  ancient  legend, 
representing  the  emperor  as  standing  knocking  at  the 
door  of  the  Church,  and  as  being,  for  his  crimes,  sent 
back  into  the  ranks  of  the  penitents,  by  the  bishop  to 
whom  he  addressed  himself.  *  Though  he  was  in  com- 
munication with  Origen,  and  received  a  letter  from  him, 
it  is  certain  that  he  never  embraced  Origen's  faith.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  reconcile  with  his  admission 
into  the  Church,  the  solemn  celebration  of  the  mil- 
lennarian  games  which  took  place  in  his  reign  in 
honour  of  the  foundation  of  Rome  (247),  and  which  was 
necessarily  accompanied  with  many  pagan  ceremonials. 
Splendid  as  were  these  games  and  spectacles,  they 
could  not  disguise  the  internal  decay  of  a  tottering 
empire,  which  knew  no  law  but  that  of  force  and  brute 
violence.  Foreign  invasion  was  perpetually  threaten- 
ing its  borders,  and  fire  and  sword  had  failed  to 
extinguish  the  religion,  which  was  to  triumph  over  the 
ruins  of  ancient  Rome.  It  was  sinking  under  the  weight 
of  those  thousand  years  of  paganism  of  which  it  so 
proudly  boasted.  Philip  the  Arabian  was  succeeded  by 
the  senator  Decius  Trajan,  who,  being  entrusted  by  him 
with  a  large  armed  force,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt, 
and  defeated  Philip  at  Verona.  Decius,  as  emperor, 
made  one  more  effort  to  re-establish  the  shaken  and 
tottering  empire.     He  embraced  the  policy  of  Trajan 

*  Eusebius  only  says :  'O  \6joq  kcitix*1'  See  a  very  clear 
discussion  of  the  question  of  Philip's  conversion  in  Mosheim, 
M  Commentar.  De  rebus  ante  Constant ,"  p.  472. 


BOOK   I. — THE   CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  I77 

and  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  of  this  policy,  persecution 
was  one  of  the  leading  features.  It  would  now  naturally 
be  carried  on  on  a  yet  wider  scale,  on  account  of  the 
progress  made  by  Christianity,  and  of  the  growing  disre- 
gard of  human  life,  which  was  the  result  of  the  repeated 
sanguinary  crises  through  which  the  empire  had  passed. 
The  Church  was  not  unprepared  for  the  terrible  trial 
awaiting  her.  Origen,  in  his  book,  "  Contra  Celsum," 
written  in  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Arabian,  recognises 
the  fact  that  the  respite  enjoyed  by  the  Christians  could 
be  but  momentary,  and  that  it  would  terminate  as  soon 
as  their  enemies  had  once  more  impressed  on  the 
popular  mind,  the  idea  that  the  troubles  of  the  empire 
were  due  to  the  tolerance  of  the  proconsuls.  "  I  do  not 
believe,"  he  said,  "that  the  tranquillity  we  are  now 
enjoying  will  be  of  long  duration."*  Cyprian,  Bishop 
of  Carthage,  had  seen  in  prophetic  vision  the  coming 
persecution.  "  I  saw,"  he  writes,  "the  father  of  a  family, 
and  by  his  side  a  young  man  whose  countenance  ex- 
pressed anxiety  and  grief  blended  with  indignation  ;  his 
cheek  was  resting  upon  his  hand.  Another  young  man 
on  the  left  was  holding  a  net,  which  he  seemed  to  wish 
to  cast  over  a  whole  great  nation.  It  was  said  to  him 
whom  this  vision  astonished,  that  the  young  man  on 
the  right  was  mourning  to  see  his  precepts  violated,  while 
he  on  the  left  rejoiced  at  having  obtained  from  the 
father  of  the  family  permission  to  act  with  cruelty."  t 
It  is  not  needful  to  have  recourse  to  a  miraculous  inter- 
vention in  order  to  explain  this  vision  ;  it  reproduced 
in   a   symbolic  form   the  prevailing  feelings  of  earnest 

*  Origen,'1  Contra  Celsum,"  III.  cxv.     (Vol.  I.  p.  456.) 
f  "  Dictum  est  ei  juvenem   qui  ad  dextram  sic   sederet,    con- 
tristari    et    dolere    quod  prascepta  sua  non    observarentur  ;    ilium 
vero   in  sinistra   exultare,  quod  sibi  daretur  occasio  ut   a  patre- 
familias  potestatem  sumeret  saeviendi.''     (Cyprian,  "  Epist."  xi.  4.) 


I78  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Christians  at  this  time.  They  were  constrained  to 
admit  that  the  level  of  piety  was  sensibly  lowered,  that 
the  spirit  of  the  world  had  crept  into  the  Church,  with 
the  multitudes  whom  a  prolonged  peace  had  tempted 
to  enter  its  ranks,  and  that  finally  the  love  of  ease  and 
of  pleasure,  the  desire  for  repose  and  the  shrinking  from 
suffering,  were  preparing  the  way  for  numerous  defec- 
tions. At  Alexandria,  as  at  Rome  and  at  Carthage, 
eloquent  voices  were  deploring  this  melancholy  con- 
dition of  the  Church,  into  the  causes  of  which  we  shall 
have  carefully  to  inquire.  It  was  especially  in  the  great 
cities  that  this  decline  of  the  Christian  life  was  obser- 
vable ;  there,  temptations'  were  many,  and  apart  from 
the  seductions  of  pagan  life,  the  Church,  enriched  and 
dignified  in  worldly  estimation  by  the  addition  of  many 
families  belonging  to  the  higher  classes  of  society,  itself 
spread  more  than  one  snare  for  pride  and  ambition.  * 
Those  who  grieved  over  such  a  state  of  things  were  fain 
to  desire  the  sharp  discipline  of  persecution,  and  from 
day  to  day  they  expected  its  outbreak.  A  year  before 
the  cruel  edict  of  Decius,  persecution  had  burst  forth  at 
Alexandria  in  consequence  of  a  popular  tumult  stirred 
up  by  a  licentious  poet,  who  was  accustomed  to  gain  a 
living  by  his  pagan  verses,  as  the  silversmiths  of  Ephesus 
did  by  the  sale  of  images  of  Diana.  This  persecution 
was  not  legalised  and  formal ;  it  was  a  sudden  violent 
rising,  and  the  Christians  who  perished  in  it  were  put  to 
death  without  trial.  Old  men  and  women  were  basely 
murdered,  after  having  been  subjected  to  such  frightful 
tortures  as  an  incensed  and  ruthless  mob  can  invent. 
Metras,  a  very  aged  man,  and  Quinta,  a  feeble  woman, 

*  See  Origen,  "In  Joann.,"  Homily  VII.;  Cyprian,  "  De  Lapsis," 
v.  These  two  important  passages  will  be  carefully  examined  by 
us  in  our  representation  of  the  Christian  life. 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  179 

stood  firm  under  all  threats  and  suffering-.  Quinta, 
after  being  taken  into  a  pagan  temple,  was  dragged 
through  the  streets  of  Alexandria  till  her  body  was  torn 
to  pieces  by  the  sharp  stones.  A  young  girl  named 
Apollonia  stood  steadfast  in  view  of  the  stake  kindled  to 
consume  her,  and  cast  herself  into  the  flames  after  her 
tormentors  had  torn  out  all  her  teeth.  The  crowd  forcibly 
entered  the  houses  of  the  Christians,  carrying  cruelty 
and  rapine  wherever  they  went.*  Hardly  was  the  fury 
of  the  Alexandrians  appeased,  when  persecution  burst 
forth  afresh  through  the  whole  empire,  under  the  decree 
of  the  emperor  himself.  This  time  no  province  was 
exempt.  In  the  preceding  persecution,  the  attack  had 
been  directed  primarily  against  bishops ;  in  this,  no 
distinction  was  recognised  either  of  place  or  class.  One 
threat  was  suspended  over  all  heads.  A  veritable 
Inquisition  was  instituted,  for  the  decree  of  Decius 
contained  a  terrible  aggravation  of  that  of  Trajan.  It  no 
longer  enjoined  simply  the  condemnation  to  death  of 
men  convicted  of  having  embraced  the  new  religion  ;  it 
commanded  that  they  should,  if  possible,  be  forced  by 
tortures  to  recant.  Such  an  innovation  gave  unlimited 
scope  to  the  sanguinary  genius  of  the  persecutors,  and 
rendered  the  trial  of  the  Christians  tenfold  more  severe. 
"  The  emperor,"  we  read  in  the  life  of  Gregory  Thau- 
maturgus,  by  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  "  commanded  the 
governors  of  the  various  provinces,  under  terrible  threats 
in  case  of  disobedience,  to  inflict  upon  the  Christians  all 
manner  of  tortures,  in  order  to  bring  them  back  to  the 
national  worship  of  demons,  by  fear  and  by  the  excess 
of  their  agony."  t     We  know  what  manner  of  men  they 

*  Eusebius.  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xli. 

f  ntju7Tfi   7rpog  tovq  tJ>v  tQvuv  KaBriyovp'tvovQ  TrpoaTayjia,  cpofispuv  kot 
avrujv  ti)v  airiikitv  rtjr  rifitapiag  opi^-ji',  ct  fi>)  wavroiotQ  at'tci ffpoig  -ovc;  to 


l8o  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

were  to  whom  this  decree  was  sent,  and  with  what  cruel 
eagerness  it  would  be  executed.  Thus  the  Church 
found  itself  called  to  pass  through  an  ordeal  of  excep- 
tional severity,  and  to  endure  such  a  persecution  as 
nothing  in  her  past  history  could  parallel.  "  The  times 
are  come,"  said  Origen,  "  of  which  the  Lord  spoke 
when  he  declared  that  the  elect  themselves  should 
hardly  be  saved."  He  was  not  mistaken,  for  terrible 
fallings  away  were  soon  witnessed.  The  decree  was 
immediately  promulgated,  and  affixed  in  all  public 
places.  A  day  was  named,  after  which  all  who  had  not 
sacrificed  to  the  gods  would  be  put  to  the  torture. 
Terror  reigned  among  the  Christians,  and  many  were 
seen  anticipating  the  utmost  limit  of  grace  allotted 
them,  and  performing  the  deed  of  apostasy  with  a 
precipitation  which  betrayed  at  once  the  agitation  of 
their  conscience  and  their  cowardly  alarm.  The  apos- 
tates belonged  chiefly  to  the  higher  classes  of  society. 
"  Men  remembered  then,"  says  Dionysius  of  Alex- 
andria, "  that  which  the  Saviour  had  said  about  the 
difficulty  of  a  rich  man's  entering  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  *  Sometimes  the  apostasy  was  open,  and  sealed 
by  a  public  sacrifice  to  the  false  gods  ;  sometimes  it  was 
more  furtive,  as  though  the  deserter  still  hoped  by  some 
bye-way  to  secure  the  blessings  of  the  faithful.  Many 
timorous  Christians  did  not  sacrifice  to  the  idols,  but 
asked  and  obtained  of  the  magistrates  a  certificate  of 
their  idolatry,  or  simply  the  inscription  of  their  name 
in  the  list  of  the  recusants,  which  sufficed  to  place  them 
in  safety. t 

uvo/xa  tov  xpiarou  7rpo<TKWOvvraQ  via\h)(3i}<raiVTO  Km  Trpocrayayouv  7rd\iv 
ainovg  -^ojio)  re  mi  ry  ro>v  aiKiafxiLv  avaytcy  rg  tCjv  Catpovduv  Xarptig,. 
(Greg.  Nyssensis  in  "Vita  Gregor.  Thaumat.,"  Vol.  III.  p.  567  ; 
Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VI.  1.)  *  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,»  VI.  xli. 

t  Hence  the  distinction  into  thurificati  and  libellatici,  of  which 


BOOK   I. — THE   CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  l8l 

Thus  arose  the  very  grave  question  of  the  re-admis- 
sion into  the  Church  of  those  who  in  time  of  temptation 
had  fallen  away;  we  shall  see,  as  we  proceed,  how  deeply 
this  question  agitated  the  Church.  It  was  the  occasion 
of  the  important  Councils  of  Carthage,  of  Rome,  and  of 
Africa  (a.d.  251),  in  which  the  influence  of  Cyprian  so 
powerfully  asserted  itself.*  He  wept  bitter  tears  over 
these  lamentable  defections,  and  in  his  judgment  on 
them,  carefully  avoided  the  two  extremes  of  too  great 
severity  and  culpable  laxity.  He  wrote  to  the  people  of 
Carthage:  "If  one  member  suffers,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  him.  I  suffer,  I  groan  over  our  brethren 
who  have  fallen  and  yielded  to  the  assaults  of  per- 
secution. They  have  torn  our  very  bowels,  and  we 
bleed  from  their  wounds. "t  If  the  decree  of  Decius 
had  encountered  only  such  coward  spirits,  it  would 
have  attained  its  end,  and  Christianity  would  have 
been  extirpated  in  the  empire.  But  the  old  heroism 
was  again  manifested,  as  in  the  noblest  days  of  the  first 
two  centuries. 

There  were  some  Christians  who  showed  themselves 
ready  to  forsake  all  for  Jesus  Christ,  and  condemned 
themselves  to  voluntary  exile.  ■  Some  bishops,  like 
Cyprian  and  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  were  their  example 
in  this.  Others  in  great  numbers  were  cast  into  gloomy 
dungeons,  where  they  endured  every  kind  of  privation. 
The  magistrates,  scrupulously  docile  in  carrying  out  the 

we  have  already  spoken.  (Cyprian,  "  Epist."  xl.)  Those  who  got 
their  names  inscribed  on  the  apostate  list  were  designated  as 
Acta- Facientes.    (Cyprian,  "  Epist."  xxxi.) 

*  A  full  account  of  all  this  will  be  given  in  that  portion  of  our 
book  which  will  treat  of  the  ecclesiastical  organisation  of  the  early 
centuries. 

f  "  Partem  nostrorum  viscerum  secum  trahentes,  parem  dolorem 
nobis  suis  vulneribus  intulerunt."     (Cyprian,  "  Epist."  xvii.  1.) 


l82  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

commands  of  the  emperor,  tried  by  a  thousand  tortures 
to  overcome  their  resistance,  but  in  vain.  ''You  have 
endured,"  wrote  Cyprian  to  the  confessors  of  Carthage, 
"steadfast  unto  the  end,  under  the  most  terrible  trials. 
You  have  succumbed  under  no  tortures,  but  tortures 
have  been  made  to  succumb  under  your  constancy."* 
If  we  are  constrained  to  admit  that  there  was  a  certain 
tendency  to  pride  manifest  at  this  time  among  the  mar- 
tyrs, which  led  them  more  than  once  to  abuse  their 
influence  and  to  trouble  the  Church,  it  is  nevertheless 
due  to  them  to  own,  that  they  saved  the  Church's  honour 
by  rallying  a  select  company  of  faithful  souls  around 
the  blood-stained  banner,  which  so  many  apostates  had 
deserted.  The  sufferings  endured  by  them  appear  to 
have  been  terrible  indeed.  Cyprian  speaks  of  their 
limbs  being  broken  and  torn  again  and  again  by  claws 
of  iron.t  Nothing  but  death  came  to  the  relief  of  the 
sufferers.  Sometimes  an  attempt  would  be  made  to 
seduce  into  sensuality  and  sin,  those  who  could  not  be 
subdued  by  tortures  or  the  threat  of  death.  St.  Jerome 
relates  that  one  young  man  was  taken  to  the  abode  of 
a  harlot,  where  every  snare  of  the  senses  was  spread 
before  him.  He  resisted  the  enticements  of  sinful 
pleasure  as  courageously  as  he  had  borne  the  inflic- 
tion of  suffering,  and  came  out  unscathed  from  this 
fiery  ordeal.  J 

As  we  have  already  said,  this  persecution  extended 
over  the  whole  empire,  from  east  to  west.  At  Rome  one 
of  the  first  victims  was  the  Bishop  Fabianus,  who  had  been 
raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity  by  a  sudden  inspiration 

*  "  Nee  cessistis  suppliciis,  sed  vobis  potius  supplicia  cesserunt." 
i Cyprian,  "  Epist."  x.  2.) 

i  "  Steterunt  torti  torquentibus  fortiores  quamvis  torquerentur 
jam  non  membra  sed  vulnera."     (Ibid.) 

J  Hieronymus,  "Vita  Pauli." 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  183 

of  the  people.*  After  him  no  immediate  successor  was 
appointed,  for  fear  of  exasperating  the  persecutors. 
"An  uncertain  rumour/'  wrote  Cyprian  to  the  clergy  of 
Rome,  "  had  reached  me  of  the  death  of  this  excellent 
man,  my  colleague;  I  scarcely  knew  whether  to  believe 
it  or  not.  Your  letters  have  fully  assured  me  of  his 
glorious  end.  I  rejoice  in  the  illustrious  testimony  you 
bear  to  his  memory.  You  have  for  the  one  part  desired 
to  let  us  know  how  precious  to  you  is  the  memory  of 
your  bishop,  and  for  the  other  part  to  communicate  to 
us  the  example  of  faith  and  courage  thus  set  before  us. 
For  just  as  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  the  defection  of 
a  bishop  may  lead  away  others  after  him,  so  is  the 
steadfastness  and  faith  of  a  bishop  a  useful  and  salutary 
example  to  the  flock. "t  In  the  East,  the  Bishops 
Alexander  of  Jerusalem  and  Babylas  of  Antioch  died 
in  prison;  the  former  probably  sank  under  the  tortures 
inflicted  on  him, J  the  latter  was  beheaded.  Six  young 
persons,  his  catechumens,  had  been  sentenced  with 
Babylas.  After  seeing  them  perish  before  his  eyes,  he 
laid  down  his  own  venerable  head  upon  the  block  before 
the  executioner,  saying:  "Here  am  I,  O  God,  and  the 
children  whom  Thou  hast  given  me !  "  His  chains  were 
buried  with  him  by  his  own  desire,  "to  show,"  said 
Chrysostom,  "that  that  which  the  world  despises  is  the 
glory  of  the  Christian."  Thus  he  willingly  laid  down 
his  life,  rather  than  quit  the  post  in  the  battle-field 
where  his  Master  had  placed  him.§ 

*  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,»  VI.  xxi. 

t  "  In  tantum  contra  utile  ct  salutare,  cum  se  episcopus  per  firrna- 
mentuin  rldei  fratribus  praebet  imitandum."    (Cyprian, k>  Epist."  ix.  1  ) 

{   Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxxix. 

•}  The  acts  of  this  martyr  may  be  read  in  Ruinart.  There  is  an 
evident  basis  of  truth  in  the  narrative,  overlaid  as  it  is  with 
subsequent  alterations.  (See  "Die  Heldenzeiten  des  rhHstcn- 
thums/'by  Kretzler,  p.  241.) 


184  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Persecution  was  no  less  severe  at  Ephesus ;  the 
legend  of  the  Seven  Sleepers  bears  clear  traces  of  the 
terror  which  constrained  the  Christians  of  that  region 
to  seek  concealment  in  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth. 
At  Smyrna,  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Pionius  and  his  com- 
panions wiped  away  a  great  reproach  from  the  Church. 
Eudemon,  the  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  that  city,  had 
openly  apostatised.  Pionius  was  celebrating  the  Eucha- 
ristic  repast  with  a  few  Christians,  when  he  was 
surprised  by  an  excited  mob,  and  dragged  into  the  public 
square.  His  replies  to  the  questions  put  to  him  were 
calm  and  steadfast.  When  asked  if  life  was  not  sweet 
to  him — a  very  natural  question  under  the  beautiful 
sky  of  Asia  Minor,  and  in  the  enchanting  district  of 
ancient  Ionia — he  replied  that  it  would  be  sweet  to  him 
to  breathe  the  air  and  to  behold  the  light  of  the  land 
to  which  his  heart  aspired.  The  most  bitter  cup  he 
was  made  to  drink  was  to  be  present  at  the  apostasy  of 
his  bishop,  and  to  hear  the  lips,  which  had  so  often 
uttered  the  words  of  divine  truth,  now  deny  the  Lord 
Christ.  This  spectacle,  so  far  from  shaking  the 
constancy  of  Pionius*  inflamed  him  with  a  holy 
jealousy,  and  neither  the  exceptional  severities  of  his 
imprisonment,  nor  the  sufferings  of  the  stake,  could 
wring  from  him  anything  but  a  fearless  confession  of 
Christ  and  Him  crucified. 

At  Alexandria  and  at  Carthage  the  persecution 
reached  its  height.  Dionysius  and  Cyprian  have  left  us 
a  vivid  picture  of  it.  The  consternation  was  great  in 
the  first  of  these  cities  when  the  decree  of  Decius 
was  read,  and  when  the  soldiers  were  seen  scouring 
the  streets  and  the  surrounding  country  that  they 
might  lay  hands  on  the  bishop.  All  who  could  flee, 
abandoned  home  and  country.     Many  of  the  fugitives 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  185 

died  of  hunger,  thirst,  and  cold,  upon  the  mountains  and 
in  the  deserts;  others  were  slain  by  robbers  or  by  wild 
beasts.*  Defections  were  many.  The  fury  of  the  people 
fell  with  all  the  more  intensity  upon  those  Christians 
who  stood  firm  as  "the  pillars  of  the  Church."  Tortures — 
strange,  ridiculous,  and  sanguinary — were  heaped  upon 
them.  Some  of  the  prisoners  were  in  derision  mounted 
upon  mules  and  scourged  through  the  town  before  being 
led  to  the  stake.  The  tenderest  youth  was  not  spared, 
children  only  fifteen  years  old  were  tortured  and  put  to 
death.  More  than  once  faithful  confessors  came  forth 
from  the  ranks  of  the  executioners.  A  very  touching 
scene  took  place  at  the  examination  of  one  of  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  city.  He  was  almost  ready  to  fail  and  yield 
as  the  last  agony  drew  near,  when  some  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  proconsular  guard  made  a  sign  to  him  to  stand 
fast.  .  .  .  They  were  themselves  at  once  involved 
in  the  same  condemnation,  and  went  triumphantly  to 
death. t 

At  Carthage  the  persecution,  which  had  been  at  first 
moderate,  owing  to  the  absence  of  the  proconsul, 
became  ruthless  on  his  return.  The  same  scenes  ensued 
which  we  have  described  at  Alexandria.  Numerous 
apostasies,  the  precipitate  flight  of  all  who  could  quit 
the  city,  the  prolonged  and  diversified  tortures  of  the 
confessors  and  their  bloody  death, — such  were  the  effects 
of  the  fresh  outburst  of  the  storm.  Imprisonment  was 
accompanied  with  unwonted  rigours  :  the  feet  were 
made  fast  with  iron  fetters,  the  body  bound  with 
chains,   and   the  captives    endured  all  the    agonies  of 

*  Tt  $ti  X'tytii'  to  ir\rj9og  to,v  tv  tp7]fXiai£  uptai  7r\ai>i]9ti>ru)V,  inrb  Xijiov 
Kui  £i-^>]Q  teat  Kpvovg  Kai  vuauv  Kai  Xijvto/V,  Kai  Brjpuov  CiMpQap/xeviov. 
(Letter  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VI.  xlii.) 

f  Ibid,  xli. 

13 


l86  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

hunger  and  thirst.  *  Here,  also,  much  noble  heroism 
was  displayed.  Cyprian  had  conferred  the  sacerdotal 
office  on  a  Christian  named  Numidicus,  who,  after 
giving  an  earnest  exhortation  from  the  place  of  execu- 
tion to  his  fellow-martyrs,  among  whom  was  his  own 
wife,  was  left  for  dead  with  the  rest  of  the  corpses. t 
His  daughter,  who  went  to  seek  his  body  to  bury  it, 
found  him  still  living,  and  under  her  tender  care  he 
was  restored.  Cyprian  celebrated  the  courage  of  the 
martyrs  in  terms  as  eloquent  as  Tertullian,  but  in  a 
less  abrupt  and  telling  form.  With  the  wise  counsels 
which  he  gave  to  the  confessors,  he  blended  exalted 
eulogiums,  which  had  a  tendency  to  make  the  martyrs 
regard  themselves  as  exceptions  to  all  common  rules, 
and  as  raised  above  the  ordinary  discipline  of  the  Church, 
so  that  they  began  to  fancy  they  held  in  their  bleeding 
hands  the  keys  of  pardon.  He  is  never  weary  of  ex- 
tolling their  courage.  He  describes  them  as  rising 
higher  and  higher  in  glory  the  more  slow  and  protracted 
are  their  sufferings.  "With  what  words  shall  I  sound 
your  praises,"  he  exclaims,  "O  heroic  brethren!  The 
crowd  of  witnesses  have  beheld  with  admiration  your 
spiritual  conflict  for  the  Lord;  they  have  heard  you,  His 
servants,  confess  His  name  openly  before  men,  with  in- 
corruptible faith  and  divine  courage;  they  have  beheld 
you  unarmed  against  the  darts  of  the  world,  but  covered 
all  the  while  with  the  shield  of  faith.  The  blood,  which 
was  to  quench  the  thirst  of  the  persecutors,  flowed  in 
floods, — glorious  blood  extinguishing  the  flames  of 
Gehenna.    O  what  a  spectacle  for  God  Himself!     How 

*  "  Caro  famis  ac  sitis  diuturnitate  contabuit,"  says  Cyprian,  of 
Celcrius,  whom  he  desired  to  raise  to  the  office  of  reader. 

f  "  Qui  uxorem  adherentem  latere  suo  concrematam  la^tus 
adspexit.  Ipse  semiustulatus  et  lapidibus  obrutus  et  pro  mortuus 
derelictus."     (Cyprian,  "  Epist."  xl.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  187 

sublime,  how  grand!  With  what  joy  has  not  Christ 
fought  and  conquered  in  those  who  are  His!  He  gives 
to  them  all  that  which  He  seems  to  take  from  them.* 
He  is  present  in  the  conflict,  supporting,  strengthening, 
animating  the  champions  of  His  name.  He  who  for 
us  overcame  death,  ceases  not  to  triumph  over  it  in  us.t 
Happy  is  our  Church,  illumined  with  so  divine  a 
glory,  and  ennobled  in  our  day  by  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  !  She  was  before  white  with  the  purity  of  her 
children,  now  she  has  found  a  royal  robe  of  purple  in 
their  blood. "J  Such  language  shows  us  that  Cyprian 
was  himself  carried  away  by  the  current  he  tries  to  stem. 
We  shall  see  how  martyrdom,  though  it  originated 
in  the  refusal  to  sacrifice  to  idols,  gradually  introduced 
into  the  Church,  through  the  undue  exaltation  of  the 
confessors,  a  new  idolatry,  full  of  peril  to  true  doctrine 
and  right  discipline. 

Decius  fell  in  a  great  battle  with  the  invading  Goths. 
Gallus  (251-263),  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  army,  succeeded 
him,  and  hastened  to  purchase  an  ignominious  peace 
from  the  barbarians.  His  reign,  inaugurated  by  so  un- 
worthy an  act,  was  marked  by  frequent  invasions,  in 
addition  to  which  the  empire  suffered  from  decimating 
epidemics.  Once  more  arose  the  cry,  "  The  Christians 
to  the  lions!"  The  flames  that  had  scarcely  yet  ceased 
to  smoulder  were  rekindled,  especially  in  the  large 
towns.  Once  more  the  Church  was  made  to  answer  for 
all  the  woes  with  which  the  world  was  visited,  and  this 

*  "  Dans  credcntibus  quantum  se  credit  capere  qui  sunlit/1 
(Cyprian,  "  Epist."  x.  3.) 

t  "  Et  qui  pro  nobis  mortem  semet  vicit,  semper  vincit  in 
nobis."     (Ibid.) 

X  "  Erat  ante  in  opcribus  fratrum  Candida,  nunc  facta  est  in 
martyrum  cruore  purpurea."     (Ibid.,  x.  6  ) 


188  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

accusation  was  none  the  less  dangerous  because  it  was 
now  two  centuries  old.* 

The  emperor,  in  order  doubtless  to  divert  from  himself 
the  public  indignation,  which  he  was  conscious  he  had 
but  too  well  merited,  decreed  a  fresh  persecution  in  the 
year  252. t  The  Christians  now  reaped  the  fruits  of 
their  late  discipline;  their  faith,  purified  in  the  burning 
crucible,  and  strengthened  by  the  sufferings  of  the 
preceding  reign,  failed  not.  We  read  no  more  in  the 
writings  of  the  time  of  sorrowful  defections,  such  as 
stained  the  persecution  under  Decius.  "  How  many 
Christians  who  had  fallen,"  writes  Cyprian,  "have  been 
raised  again  by  a  glorious  confession !  They  have  stood 
firm,  exhibiting  such  strength  from  the  depth  of  their 
repentance,  that  it  was  evident  they  had  been  surprised 
into  their  former  weakness,  and  had  only  quailed  through 
the  strangeness  of  persecution.  Having  now  returned 
to  the  true  faith,  and  gathered  up  their  strength,  they 
are  ready,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  endure  all  suffering 
with  constancy  and  courage.  They  have  no  longer  to 
seek  pardon  for  a  fault,  but  may  reach  forth  unto  the 
crown  of  martyrdom. "J  The  Church  of  Rome  appears 
to  have  been  the  first  to  suffer.  Two  of  its  bishops 
perished  in  this  persecution :  these  were  Cornelius  and 
Lucius.  The  mode  of  Cornelius'  death  is  not  known  ; 
Lucius  was  beheaded.  We  possess  a  letter  from  the 
Bishop  of  Carthage,  who  nobly  congratulates  Cornelius 
on  his  fidelity.  "  I  cannot  express  to  thee,"  wrote 
Cyprian  to  him,  "my  rapture  and  joy  when  I  received 

:;:  "  Dixisti  per  nos  fieri  et  quod  nobis  debeant  imputari  omnia 
ista,  quibus  nunc  mundus  quatitur  et  urgetur,  quod  dii  vestri  a 
nobis  non  colantur."     (Cyprian,  "  Ad  Demetr.,"  iii.) 

t  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"VII.L 

X  "Quot  illic  lapsi  gloriosa  confessione  sunt  restituti."  (Cyprian, 
"  Epist."  ix.  2.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  189 

the  good  tidings  of  thy  constancy.  Thou  hast  taken  thy 
place  at  the  head  of  the  band  of  confessors,  and  the 
courage  of  the  bishop  has  been  upheld  by  the  courage 
of  those  who  trod  in  his  footsteps.  Thyself  leading  the 
way  to  glory,  thou  hast  turned  the  feet  of  many  into  the 
same  path ;  thou  hast  persuaded  thy  whole  flock  as  one 
man  to  confess  the  truth,*  because  thou  wast  thyself 
ready  to  confess  the  Master  in  the  name  of  all.  The 
adversary  thought  to  scatter  the  camp  of  Christ  in  con- 
fusion by  his  sudden  assault,  but  he  has  met  with  a  zeal 
in  the  defence  equal  to  his  own  in  the  attack. "t  Cyprian, 
writing  to  Lucius,  the  successor  of  Cornelius,  who  with 
a  number  of  the  Roman  Christians  had  just  passed 
through  the  furnace  without  being  consumed,  expresses, 
in  the  most  touching  manner,  the  joy  which  must  be  felt 
in  beholding  again  such  noble  confessors,  who,  like 
the  three  young  Hebrews  in  Babylon, X  had  been 
miraculously  delivered  from  the  power  of  death :  "  Would 
to  God  that  I  could  be  present  at  your  return  into  the 
Church!  What  must  be  the  delight  of  the  brethren! 
What  their  warm  welcome  and  eager  embraces  !  But 
scarcely  can  even  such  embraces,  or  the  beaming  eyes 
and  sunny  faces  of  the  flock,  express  the  deep  joy  they 
feel  in  looking  on  you  once  again  !  It  is  a  feast  of  which 
they  are  never  weary.  Brethren,  you  can  faintly  fore- 
shadow what  will  be  the  joy  when  Christ  Himself 
returns.  That  return  is  near,  and  you  are  enjoying  its 
image  and  foretaste;  for  it  seems  as  if  the  Lord  Himself 
were  come  again  With  this  noble  confessor,  His  bishop 
and  His  priest. "§    This  joy  was,  alas!  of  short  duration, 

*  "Confessorem  populum  suaseris  esse."  (Cyprian,  "Epist."lx.  1.) 
+  "  Ouo  impetu  venerat,   eodem  impetu  pulsus  et   victus   est." 

(Ibid.,  Ix.  2.)  X  Ibid.,  Ixi.  1.  . 

§  "  Quae  illic  cxsultatio  omnium   fratrum,  qui   concursus  atque 

complexus  occurrentium  singulorurn."     (Ibid.,  Ixi.  3.) 


190       THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

for  Lucius  was  soon  again  seized,  and  this  time  his  life 
was  the  sacrifice. 

Persecution  was  sure  to  fall  heavily  upon  the  Chris- 
tians of  Carthage,  since  the  pestilence,  which  had  so 
exasperated  the  populace  against  them,  had  been  most 
virulent  in  that  city.  Cyprian  has  left  us  a  pathetic 
picture  of  this  fearful  epidemic,  which  everywhere  carried 
terror  and  death  in  its  track.  The  malady  attacked  the 
whole  body  at  once;  the  sufferer  wasted  away,  his  throat 
burned  as  with  a  hidden  fire,  his  eyes  grew  dim  and 
bloodshot,  and  a  gnawing  agony  consumed  his  vitals.* 
There  was  scarcely  a  house  exempt.  Cyprian  had  a 
double  duty  to  fulfil:  he  had  first  to  silence  the  calum- 
nies of  the  pagans,  who  accused  the  Christians  of  being 
the  authors  of  their  woes ;  then  to  reassure  the  Chris- 
tians themselves,  whom  this  fearful  scourge  terrified 
beyond  measure.  He  nobly  acquitted  himself  of  his 
arduous  task.  He  wrote  for  the  pagans  the  letter  to 
Demetrius,  one  of  the  agitators  for  the  persecution  and 
one  of  the  most  bitter  slanderers  of  the  Church.  To  his 
flock  he  addressed  his  treatise  "On  Mortality." 

The  eloquent  Bishop  did  not  disguise  from  himself 
the  difficulty  of  bringing  to  reason  a  pagan  people,  whose 
passions  were  excited.  "As  well,"  he  said,  "try  to 
calm  with  a  word,  the  sea  seething  in  the  tempest. "t 
Nevertheless,  he  felt  it  incumbent  on  him  seriously  to 
refute  calumnies,  which  were  equally  baseless  and  ab- 
surd. He  expresses,  first  of  all,  an  idea  which  might 
readily  arise  in  the  age  of  social'  disorganisation  in 
which  he  lived.     It  seems  to  him  that  the  world  has 


*  "  In  faucium  vulnera  conceptus  medullitus  ignis  exa?stuat, 
oculi  vi  sanguinis  inardescunt."  (Cyprian,  "De  Mortalitate,"  xiv.) 

-f-  "  Turbulenti  maris  concitos  rluctus  clamoribus  retundere." 
(Cyprian,  "Ad  Demetr.,"  iii.) 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  I91 

grown  old,*  that,  in  a  world  weary  of  life-bearing,  death 
alone  germinates  readily.  Looking  on  that  vast  empire, 
a  prey  to  its  own  internal  decay  and  to  the  rapacious 
quarrels  of  its  rulers,  he  instinctively  feels  the  end  of 
the  world  must  be  at  hand.  He  could  not  know  that 
those  barbarians,  who  were  in  his  eyes  the  heralds  of 
general  ruin,  were  in  truth  to  be  the  renovators  of  the 
world,  and  to  open  to  humanity  a  career  of  renewed 
youth  and  fresh  development.  Cyprian  has  also 
other  and  stronger  arguments  to  use  against  his 
adversaries.  It  is  not  the  pretende'd  impiety  of  the 
Christians,  it  is  the  crimes  of  the  pagans  which  have 
irritated  Heaven.  "  These  calamities/'  he  says,  "come 
not  because  we  do  not  worship  your  gods,  but  because 
you  do  not  worship  ours."t  He  quotes,  in  support  of 
this  assertion,  the  most  terrible  denunciations  of  idolatry 
contained  in  the  Scriptures.  "  God  is  angry,  and 
menaces  and  visits  you,  because  you  do  not  come  back 
to  Him.  And  in  your  blind  obstinacy  and  disregard  of 
Him,  you  marvel  and  complain  that  the  heavens  give 
no  rain,  that  the  earth  is  consumed  with  drought,  that 
the  barren  soil  brings  forth  only  a  thin  and  withered 
herbage,  that  the  hail  smites  the  vines  and  the  wind 
strips  the  olive-trees,  that  a  mortal  poison  is  abroad  in 
the  air,  when  all  these  judgments  are  provoked  by  your 
sins,]:  and  when  the  anger  of  God  waxes  hotter  and 
hotter,  so  long  as  you  continue  in  them."  Cyprian 
then  gives  a  picture  of  the  crimes  of  the  pagans,  for 
which  strong  colours  were  ready  to  his  hand.  "You 
complain  of  the   enemies  without  ;  what  are   they   in 

*  "Scnuisse  jam  mundum."     (Cyprian,  "Ad  Demetr.,"  iii.) 

f  "  Non  enim  ista  accedunt,  quod  dii  vestri  a  nobis  non  coluntur, 

sed  quod  a  vobis  non  colatur  Deus."     (Ibid.,  v.) 

I  "  Cum   omnia   ista,   provocantibus  peccatis  vcstris,  veniunt." 

(Ibid.,  vii.) 


ig2  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

comparison  with  the  enemies  within,  with  those  of  our 
fellow-citizens  who  are  powerful  only  for  evil  ?  You 
complain  of  famine,  as  if  rapacity  did  not  bring  more 
want  upon  our  cities  than  the  drought  brings.*  You 
complain  of  the  pestilence,  but  you  add  to  its  horrors 
by  your  inhumanity,  abandoning  the  poor  sufferers,  and 
allowing  their  bodies  to  lie  unburied."  All  these  crimes 
culminate  in  the  treatment  to  which  the  Christians  are 
subjected.  "  Not  content  with  not  worshipping  God 
yourselves,  you  sacrilegiously  persecute  those  who  do 
worship  Him.  Full  of  complaisance  for  the  devotees 
of  what  I  may  call  not  only  senseless  idols  but  mon- 
sters, you  lay  a  ban  only  upon  the  followers  of  the  true 
God.  These  innocent  men,  dear  to  their  God  and 
honourable  among  yourselves,  you  banish  ;  you  confis- 
cate their  goods,  you  load  them  with  fetters,  you  cast 
them  into  dungeons,  you  behead  them,  you  throw  them 
to  the  wild  beasts,  or  give  their  bodies  to  be  burnt. 
Nay,  more,  each  day  a  subtle  cruelty  devises  some  new 
mode  of  torture. t  Do  you  marvel  that  God  should 
avenge  His  own  ?!  He  makes  them,  for  their  profit, 
partakers  in  the  common  affliction  which  comes  upon 
all  men,  but  to  you  these  scourges  declare  the  terrible 
judgment  of  God  upon  your  crimes."  The  treatise 
concludes  with  an  eloquent  appeal,  addressed  to  the 
conscience  of  the  pagans,  which  follows  on  a  description, 
written  in  letters  of  fire,  of  the  pains  of  the  future  life. 
"To  hate  is  forbidden  us,"  said  Cyprian;  "we  please 
God  by  not  avenging  ourselves ;  therefore  we  summon 
you  to  obey  God,  and  to  rise  from  your  deep  darkness 

*  "  Quasi   famem    majorem    siccitas    quam    rapacitas    faciat." 

(Cyprian,  "  Ad  Demetr.,"  v.) 
t  "  Excogibat  novas  paenas  ingeniosa  crudelitas."     (Ibid.,  xii  ) 
I  "  Quod    inultum     non    remaneat    quodcunque    perpatimur." 

(Ibid.,  xvii.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  193 

into  the  pure  light  of  true  religion.  We  render  you 
love  for  hatred,  and  our  only  vengeance  for  the  tortures 
which  you  lay  upon  us  is  to  show  unto  you  the  way  of 
salvation.     Believe  and  live."* 

Cyprian  was  not  less  earnest  in  his  endeavours  to 
rally  the  failing  courage  of  the  Christians  of  Carthage. 
"  I  observe,"  he  says,  in  his  treatise  on  "  Mortality," 
"  that  some  among  you,  through  feebleness  of  soul  or 
poverty  of  faith,  through  a  cowardly  clinging  to  the 
present  life  or  through  the  natural  weakness  of  your 
sex,  or,  which  is  a  more  serious  peril,  through  erroneous 
views,  faint  in  the  day  of  trial. "t  He  seeks  to  forewarn 
these  timid  Christians  against  the  fear  of  death,  by 
pointing  out  to  them  all  the  temptations  and  sufferings, 
with  which  we  are  surrounded  in  this  world  of  sin. 
"  Our  joy  will  be  to  see  the  Lord  Christ.  What  blind- 
ness and  folly  to  choose,  rather  than  that  beatific  vision, 
the  tribulations,  pains  and  sorrows  of  the  world.  This 
comes,  beloved  brethren,  from  our  want  of  faith. "J 
Cyprian  then  enumerates  from  Scripture  the  benefits  of 
trial.  "  Why  fear  a  death  which  is  a  deliverance  from 
the  present  age  ?  Do  not  imagine,  because  the  just  die 
as  the  unjust,  that  their  end  is  the  same.  The  just  are 
taken  away  to  the  abode  of  blessedness,  the  unjust  to 
the  place  of  torment.  We  are  ungrateful,  O  brethren 
beloved,  for  the  benefits  bestowed  upon  us.  Behold  our 
virgins,  who  fall  asleep  in  peace  with  their  glory  unde- 
filed  ;  they  have  no  more  to  fear  the  violence  or  the 
seductions  of  Antichrist,  who  is  at  hand,  nor  can 
they  be  drawn  into  the  haunts  of  infamy.    Our  children 

*  "  Odisse  non  licet  nobis.  Odiis  vcstris  bencvolentiam  reddimus, 
et  pro  tormentis  ac  suppliciis,  qua?  nobis  inferuntur,  salutis  itinera 
monstramus."     (Cyprian,  "Ad  Dcmetr.,"  xxv.) 

f  "Animadverto  quosdam  minus  stare  fortiter."  (Cyprian,  "De 
Mortalitate,"  i.)  J  "  Hoc  fit  quia  fides  deest."     (Ibid.,  vi.) 

O 


194  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

escape  the  perils  of  the  age  of  guilty  desires,  and 
lightly  wear  the  crown  of  continence  and  innocence. 
The  delicate  matron  has  no  more  to  fear  the  tortures  of 
persecution ;  she  is  delivered  by  swift  death  from  the 
barbarous  hands  of  the  executioners.  The  present  trial 
is  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  fearful,  to  fortify  the  weak, 
to  stir  up  the  slothful,  to  rally  the  deserters,  and  to 
equip  for  the  fight  a  new  and  numerous  army,  prepared 
to  stand  in  the  fore-front  of  the  battle  when  it  shall 
recommence.*  Let  us  not  murmur  as  though  the 
epidemic  snatched  away  the  martyr's  crown  :  those  are 
not  held  faithless  to  the  martyr's  calling  to  whom  the 
occasion  of  martyrdom  never  comes. t  That  which  is 
essential,  is  that  we  do  the  will  of  God."  These 
counsels  produced  the  desired  result ;  the  assembled 
Church  listened  to  them  from  the  lips  of  the  Bishop 
himself.  The  effect  of  his  discourse  was  irresistible, 
and  the  deacon  Pontius,  the  biographer  pf  Cyprian, 
exclaims  that  had  the  pagans  been  present  they  would 
certainly  have  been  won  to  Christ.  All  cowardly  fear 
was  banished  from  the  hearts  of  the  Christians ;  they 
devoted  themselves  zealously  to  the  tending  of  the  sick 
and  the  burial  of  the  dead.  Offerings  abounded,  and 
the  charity  of  the  Church  was  extended  even  to  the 
pagans.  "  Thus,"  adds  Pontius,  "  did  it  cast  into  the 
shade  that  of  Tobias,  who  distributed  his  alms  only  to 
the  poor  of  his  own  people. "J 

Almost  at  the  same  time,  the  savage  nations  of 
Northern  Africa  having  carried  off  into  their  deserts 
many   captives,   among  whom   were   some   Christians, 

*  Cyprian,  "  De  Moitalitatc,"  xv. 

f  "  Aliud  est  martyrio  animum  decsse,  aliud  animo  defuissemar- 
tyrium."     (Ibid.,  xvii  ) 

Pontius,  "  Vita  et  Passio."     Cyprian.     Kretzler,  "  Die  Helden- 
zeiten  des  Christenthums." 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  195 

Cyprian  made  a  fresh  appeal  to  the  liberality  of  his 
Church  in  his  treatise  "  On  Almsgiving."  We  find  in 
this  treatise  unquestionably  more  than  one  false  idea  of 
the  expiatory  and  purifying  virtue  of  generous  giving; 
but  the  duty  of  generosity  is  urged  with  passionate 
eloquence.  The  pious  Bishop  said  with  reason  that 
Christians  .should  dread  rather  to  find  their  charity 
diminishing  than  their  goods  growing  less.*  There  is 
more  prudence  in  leaving  God  as  the  guardian  of  our 
children,  than  in  labouring  to  increase  their  patrimony. 
Cyprian  sustains  this  argument,  which  breathes  the 
purest  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  by  drawing  a  striking  parallel 
between  the  generosity  of  men  of  the  world  for  the 
prince  of  this  world,  and  the  parsimony  of  Christians 
towards  their  God.  He  supposes  the  Evil  One  coming 
with  his  followers  to  the  Church  and  thus  addressing  it: 
"  I  have  not  borne  for  these,  my  friends,  shameful  entreat- 
ing and  scourging  ;  I  have  not  been  crucified  nor  shed  my 
blood  for  them,  nor  have  I  promised  them  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Yet  see  what  precious  gifts  they  bring  me  to 
adorn  my  feasts,  whether  the  offering  be  of  their  goods 
or  of  their  own  selves.  Hast  thou,  O  Christ,  such  givers 
among  Thy  rich  ones  ?  Do  they  bring  such  offerings  to 
Thee,  pledging  or  sacrificing  their  worldly  goods,  nay, 
rather  exchanging  them  for  durable  riches  in  that  Church 
which  Thou  dost  watch  and  govern  ?  These  fading, 
earthly  treasures  that  are  lavished  on  me,  give  not  food, 
comfort,  or  clothing  to  any  creature.  Thou,  on  the  con- 
trary, art  clothed  and  cherished  in  the  persons  of  Thy 
poor,  and  Thou  dost  promise  eternal  life  to  the  charitable 
among  Thy  friends;  and  yet  these,  to  whom  is  held  iorth 
such  a  celestial  recompense,  come  short  in  munificence 

*  "  Dum  ne  quid  dc  rebus  tuis  minuatur  attendis,  non  respicis 
quod  ipse  minuaris."'     (*'  De  opere  et  eleemos.,"  x.) 


I96  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  those  who  are  ready  to  perish  in  my  train."*  Such 
appeals  could  not  be  withstood,  and  the  captives  were 
ransomed. 

Gallus  was  murdered  with  his  son,  as  he  was  marching 
against  his  competitor  yEmilianus;  the  latter  met  the 
same  fate,  and  Valerian,  who  was  hastening  from  the 
Rhine  to  assist  Gallus,  was  proclaimed  emperor 
(a.d.  253),  while  his  son  Gallienus  was  associated  with 
him  in  the  empire  by  the  senate.  He  at  first  appeared 
favourably  disposed  to  the  new  religion,  so  that  his 
palace  was  filled  with  Christians,  and,  Eusebius  says, 
resembled  a  Church. t  Too  soon,  however,  there  came 
a  change.  The  emperor  fell  under  the  influence  of 
Macrinus,  an  able  man,  versed  in  the  magic  of  Egypt. 
Soldiers  of  fortune,  raised  to  the  throne  by  crime,  were 
ever  accessible  to  those  superstitions  which  seemed  to 
promise  all  the  advantages  of  religion,  while  tolerating 
and  favouring  every  vice.  It  was  an  easy  mode  of  pro- 
curing the  protection,  or  to  speak  more  truly,  the 
complicity,  of  the  occult  divinities,  who  were  esteemed 
the  more  powerful  the  less  they  were  understood. 
Valerian  decreed  a  new  persecution  under  the  influence 
of  Macrinus.  It  was  not  at  first  very  sanguinary.  We 
see,  from  the  account  given  by  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 
that  the  proconsuls  contented  themselves  with  forbidding 
meetings  for  worship,  and  sentencing  the  delinquents 
to  exile.  In  proconsular  Africa,  the  Christians  were 
prohibited  visiting  the  cemeteries,  and  many  of  them 
were  compelled  to  work  in  the  mines.  Cyprian  wrote  to 
these  a  letter  of  consolation,  which  gives  us  some  idea 
of  their  pitiable  condition.     They  had  been  scourged 

*  "Tuos  tales   munerarios,    Christe,  demonstra.     Vix  tui  meis 
pereuntibus  adaxjuantur."     ("  De  opcre  et  elecmos.,"  xxii.) 
t  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VII.  x. 


BOOK    I. — THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    EMPIRE.  197 

before  being  sent  to  their  rude  labours;  they  were  bound 
in  chains,  and  their  feet  loaded  with  irons.  "These  are 
not  chains,"  exclaims  Cyprian,  "  they  are  ornaments. 
O  fettered  feet  of  the  blessed  ones,  treading  the  path  to 
paradise  !  You  have  no  bed,  no  place  of  rest  in  the 
mines ;  your  wearied  limbs  are  stretched  on  the  cold  earth ; 
naked,  there  are  no  clothes  to  cover  you,  hungry,  no 
bread  to  feed  you.  But  what  a  glory  lights  up  this  your 
shame,  which  is  a  token  of  perdition  only  to  the 
pagans."*  The  persecution  could  not  stop  here  ;  it  must 
necessarily  become  more  bloody.  The  following  de- 
cree was  issued  a.d.  258:  "The  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons,  are  to  be  put  to  instant  death ;  the  knights  and 
senators  to  be  deprived  of  their  dignity  and  possessions, 
"and  if  they  still  persist  in  their  faith,  to  be  beheaded. 
Women  of  condition  are  to  be  banished  after  confiscation 
of  their  goods  ;  and  those  of  the  house  of  Caesar  who  have 
confessed,  or  shall  confess,  the  new  religion,  shall  forfeit 
their  goods,  and  shall  be  sent  in  chains  into  some  distant 
province  of  the  empire. "t  Such  a  decree  gave  of  course  a 
great  impetus  to  the  persecution,  which  became  uni- 
versal. Dionysius  tells  us  "that  persons  of  every  age  and 
condition  were  scourged,  or  put  to  death  by  the  sword, 
or  burned. "J  At  Csesarea  three  faithful  confessors 
denounced  themselves  to  the  judges,  and  were  con- 
demned. At  Rome,  the  Bishop  Sixtus  was  put  to  death 
with  four  deacons  in   the   catacombs.     Fructuosus  in 

*  "  Fustibus  caesi.  Imposuerunt  compedcs  pedibus  vestris;  non 
favetur  in  metallis  lecto.  Vestis  algentibus  deest.  Panis  illic 
exiguus."     (Cyprian,  "  Epist."  lxxxvi.  2.) 

t  "  Quce  autem  sunt  in  vero  ita  sc  habent.  Rcscripsisse  Valeri- 
anum  ad  senatum  ut  episcopi  et  presbyteri  et  diacones  incontinenti 
animadvertantur.  Senatores  vero  et  egregii  viri  equites  Romani 
dignitate  amissa.,  etiam  bonis  spolientur  et  si,  ademptis  facultatibus, 
christiani  esse  perseverarint,  capite  quoque  mulctentur."  (Gieseler, 
"Church  History,"  Vol.  I.,  20.) 

X  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xi. 


I98  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Spain,  Saturnin  and  Dionysius  in  Gaul,  also  fell 
victims.  The  Church  of  Carthage  had  again  the  honour 
of  being  exposed  to  the  rudest  blows.  Cyprian  addressed 
to  it  his  "  Exhortation  to  Martyrdom."  In  order  to 
induce  the  Christians  to  put  on  joyfully  this  purple 
robe,  dyed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,*  the  Bishop 
of  Carthage  reminds  them  of  the  rich  promises  of 
Scripture  to  the  faithful  and  true  witnesses.  He  con- 
cludes by  saying  :  "  In  such  meditations  the  spirit  grows 
strong,  and  becomes  proof  against  the  terrors  of  the 
evil  one  and  the  menaces  of  the  world.  Earth 
is  shut  against  us  in  times  of  persecution,  but  heaven 
is  opened  ;  Antichrist  threatens,  but  Christ  sustains  ; 
death  overtakes  us,  but  immortality  follows ;  the  world 
recedes,  but  paradise  receives  us  ;  this  life  of  a  day 
is  quenched,  eternal  life  begins.  What  honour,  what 
peace,  what  joy,  to  depart  thus  gloriously  from  the  midst 
of  persecution  and  anguish,  to  shut  the  eyes  on  the  world 
and  men,  to  open  them  on  the  face  of  God  and  of  His 
Christ:  O  short  and  blessed  voyage  !"t  Cyprian  was  soon 
to  know  from  experience  the  blessedness  thus  so  vividly 
conceived  by  him,  of  a  courageous  death  for  the  truth. 

We  know  what  was  the  melancholy  end  of  Valerian, 
how  after  his  defeat  by  the  King  of  Persia  he  was  com- 
pelled ignominiously  to  follow  in  his  triumphal  train. 
His  son  Gallienus  issued  the  first  edict  of  toleration  to 
the  Church.  This  edict  imported  that  the  emperor 
desired  to  extend  his  noble  protection  to  the  whole 
world,  and  that  the  bishops  might  claim  this  protection 
against  all  who  sought  to  trouble  them.J       By  another 

*  "  De  agno  lanam  ipsam  et  purpuram  misi."  ("  De  Exhort. 
Martyr./'  iii.i 

t  "  Quanta  est  dignitas  et  quanta  securitas  exire  hinc  lsetum.  .  . 
Turn  feliciter  migrandi  O  quanta  velocitas  !  "     (Ibid.,  xiii.j 

t  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,»  VII.  xiii. 


BOOK   I. — THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    EMPIRE.  199 

decree,  he  gave  the  Christians  permission  to  visit  their 
cemeteries.  During  the  anarchy  which  characterised 
the  period  intervening  between  Gallienus  and  Aurelian, 
and  which  is  justly  known  in  history  as  the  period  of 
the  thirty  tyrants,  the  Church  enjoyed  complete  repose. 
The  competitors  who  contended  for  the  empire  had 
enough  to  do  in  opposing  each  other,  and  did  not 
trouble  themselves  about  the  Church.  This  security 
lasted  throughout  the  reign  of  Aurelian.  That  emperor 
was  compelled  at  first  to  devote  all  his  energies  to  the 
conflict  with  the  barbarians  ;  then  he  required  his  whole 
forces  to  overthrow  the  brilliant  but  ephemeral  kingdom 
of  Palmyra,  rendered  illustrious  by  the  genius  and 
valour  of  a  woman.  We  find  a  striking  proof  of  the 
security  of  the  Christians  during  this  period  in  the 
sumptuous  life  of  a  worldly  and  heretical  bishop,  who 
reigned  like  a  veritable  prince  within  his  church.  We 
shall  presently  see  the  ground  of  the  sentence  of  con- 
demnation passed  upon  Paul  of  Samosata  in  the 
Council  of  Antioch  (269).  Some  bishops  committed 
the  error  of  calling  in  the  intervention  of  Aurelian  in  a 
purely  religious  question,  and  the  emperor,  with  rare 
wisdom,  declared  himself  incompetent  to  interfere. 
When  he  died  he  was  on  the  eve  of  departing  from  his 
principles  of  tolerance  towards  the  Christians  ;  indeed 
he  had  already  issued  a  decree*  against  them,  which  his 
premature  death  rendered  nugatory.  Himself  an  ardent 
devotee  ol  the  oriental  divinities,  he  only  wanted  leisure 
to  become  a  Decius  or  Valerian  towards  the  Christians. t 
His  successors,  until  Dioclesian,  left  the  Church  in 
peace,  but  persecution  was  to  break  forth  with  only  the 
greater  vehemence  for  being  so  long  repressed. 

*  Lactantius,"  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  vi. 
t  Aurelian    had    reared    at     Rome     a     temple     to     the     sun. 
(Vopiscus,  xxv.) 


200  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

§  III.  The  Last  General  Persecution. 

Dioclesian  was  raised  from  the  lowest  rank  to  the 
supreme  power  (a.d.  284).  He  was  more  than  a  mere 
soldier  favoured  by  fortune ;  he  had  the  genius  of  a 
profound  politician.  He  was  fully  conscious  that  the 
great  peril  threatening  the  empire  was  from  the  barbar- 
ous nations,  whose  hosts  were  already  beating  like  great 
waves  against  its  boundaries  both  in  East  and  West, 
and  which  had  already  more  than  once  effected  wide 
breaches  in  those  boundaries  ;  he  was  determined  there- 
fore to  bring  all  his  force  to  bear  upon  their  repression. 
One  man  alone  was  not  sufficient  for  such  a  task.  To 
put  able  generals  at  the  head  of  armies  which  were 
to  fight  far  away  from  the  emperor,  was  to  create  so 
many  usurpers,  to  foster  civil  war,  and  to  turn  against 
the  empire  the  very  forces  designed  for  its  defence. 
Dioclesian  could  devise  but  one  method  of  averting  this 
danger,  namely,  to  give  the  purple  at  once  to  those 
who  would  otherwise  infallibly  seize  it  for  themselves, 
and  to  share  a  power  which  there  was  no  possibility  of 
preserving  intact,  except  at  the  cost  of  constant  san- 
guinary struggles.  Four  emperors  were  thus  raised  at 
once  to  the  throne — Dioclesian  and  Maximian  with  the 
title  of  Augustus,  Galerius  and  Constantius  under  the 
name  of  Caesar.  Maximian  was  an  old  comrade  in  arms 
of  Dioclesian,  and  belonged  to  an  obscure  family  in 
Pannonia.  Galerius  and  Constantius  were  men  utterly 
unlike.  The  former  had  all  the  vices  and  all  the 
passions  of  paganism,  joined  with  much  natural  im- 
petuosity and  courage  ;  the  latter  united  to  the  skill 
of  a  consummate  general,  a  moderate,  tolerant,  and 
elevated  spirit,  in  which  there  was  manifest  much  of 
the  generous  influence  of  the  new  religion,  though  he 


BOOK    I. — THE    LAST    GENERAL    PERSECUTION.      201 

had  not  positively  embraced  it.  Dioclesian  governed 
in  the  East :  Maximian  reigned  over  Italy,  Africa,  and 
the  Islands  ;  Galerius  over  Thrace  and  the  Danubian 
provinces  ;  and  Constantius  over  Gaul,  Spain,  and 
Britain. 

The  end  which  Dioclesian  proposed  to  himself  seemed 
attained;  the  invaders  were  everywhere  driven  back, 
and  no  usurpers  had  arisen  in  the  victorious  armies. 
But  if  the  foreign  foes  were  vanquished,  another  not  less 
formidable  invasion  was  making  swift  though  silent 
progress — the  invasion  of  foreign  thought.  How  could 
it  be  otherwise,  when  Dioclesian  himself  lent  all  his 
power  to  the  patronage  of  new  ideas  ?  He  dealt  the  last 
blow  to  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  empire  by  sub- 
stituting the  pompous  and  servile  forms  of  oriental 
monarchy,  for  the  pseudo-republican  forms  of  the 
monarchy  of  the  Caesars.  His  despotism  was  not  more 
oppressive  than  that  of  his  predecessors,  but  it  was  more 
Asiatic*  He  was  constantly  absent  from  the  capital 
of  the  empire,  and  showed  a  marked  preference  for 
Nicomedia.  Again,  without  falling  into  the  mad  and 
impure  follies  of  Heliogabalus,  he  patronised,  like  him, 
the  worship  of  the  sun,  and  although  bearing  himself 
the  surname  of  the  greatest  of  the  Olympic  gods,  he 
did  all  in  his  power  to  ensure  the  predominance  of  the 
religions  of  the  East.t  Great  as  a  general  and  as  a 
statesman,  Dioclesian  seems  to  have  been  weak  and 
superstitious  in  reference  to  religion.  He  was  not 
cruel  by  nature,  but  he  might  easily  become  so  under 
the  influence  of  pagan  fanaticism.  During  the  early 
part  of  his  reign,  the  Church  continued  to  develop  itself 

*  See  some  most  interesting  reflections  on  this  transformation  in 
M.  Broglie's  "  History,"  Vol.  I. 

f  Milman,  "  History  of  Christianity,"  Vol.  I.  p.  382. 

14 


202  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

freely.  It  increased  day  by  day  in  numbers  and  in 
importance.  Religious  edifices  were  multiplied,  and 
rivalled  in  dignity  the  pagan  temples.  At  Nicomedia 
itself,  opposite  the  imperial  palace,  a  Christian 
temple  rose  upon  a  hill,  a  striking  monument  of  the 
progress  of  the  new  religion,  and  of  the  tolerance  of  the 
late  emperors.  In  the  court  of  Dioclesian,  Christians 
were  raised  to  the  highest  offices,  among  others 
Dorotheus,  who  had  won  great  regard  by  some  signal 
services.  The  Christian  officers  of  the  palace  were 
authorised  to  attend  to  their  religious  duties  with  their 
whole  households,  without  entering  into  any  covenant 
with  idolatry,  and  some  governors  of  provinces  received 
a  dispensation  from  sacrificing  to  the  idols.*  The 
wife  and  daughter  of  the  emperor  showed  an  evident 
leaning  towards  the  Christian  faith. t  Everything  there- 
fore seemed  to  promise  the  Church  a  long  period 
of  security,  and  perhaps  even  permanent  toleration'. 
There  were  still,  indeed,  here  and  there  cases  of 
suffering  for  the  truth,  but  there  was  nothing  that 
could  justly  be  styled  persecution.  The  reputed  mas- 
sacre of  the  Theban  legion  at  Saint  Maurice  is  so 
completely  legendary,  that  it  deserves  no  serious 
consideration.^; 

It  was  to  be  expected,  however,  that  the  pagan  party, 

*  0i£  kcu  riiQ  tmv  t9v  ivexsipiZov  ijyf^ov'iag,  rfjc  7ref,l  to  Qvhv 
dywviac  clvtovq  d7ra\\arrov_fr,.      (Eusebius,  "  H.  E./'  VIII.  i.) 

f  Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  x. 

I  Apart  from  the  improbability  of  there  being  a  whole  legion 
composed  of  Christians,  and  of  Christians  of  equal  heroism,  the 
silence  of  such  historians  as  Eusebius,  Sulpicius  Severus,  and 
Paul  Arosius,  is  significant.  The  first  mention  of  the  story  is  in  the 
Acts  of  St.  Romanus  (a.d.  520)  and  of  Avitus.  There  has  been 
supposed  to  be  in  the  legend  a  sort  of  strange  confusion  with  the 
acts  of  a  Greek  named  Maurice,  who  suffered  martyrdom  with 
seventy  Christian  soldiers  in  Svria  at  the  same  period.  (Mosheim, 
"  Comment./'  p.  27  ;  Gieseler,  "  Church  History,"  Vol.  I.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    LAST   GENERAL    PERSECUTION.      203 

still  so  powerful,  would  try  all  means  to  hinder  the 
success  of  Christianity.  The  outward  growth  of  the 
Church  was  an  offence  to  it,  the  fanatic  worshippers  of 
the  false  gods  trembled  with  rage  as  they  passed  before 
the  noble  temples  raised  to  the  honour  of  the  Crucified. 
Even  the  secret  worship  celebrated  in  the  catacombs  they 
had  held  to  be  intolerable,  and  they  had  again  and  again 
forbidden  all  ingress  to  these  Christian  sanctuaries ; 
and  now,  should  they  endure  the  observance  of  these 
accursed  rites  in  the  full  face  of  day  and  at  a  few  paces 
from  the  imperial  palace  ?  They  glanced  at  their  own 
ranks,  and  felt  themselves  still  an  imposing  majority  ; 
they  had  on  their  side  the  traditions  of  the  past,  the 
laws,  and  the  emperors ;  for  they  could  count  upon  the 
support  of  Dioclesian,  and  Constantius  Chlorus  was  too 
far  away  from  the  seat  of  the  empire  to  cross  their 
schemes.  The  pagan  party  was  composed  of  philo- 
sophers like  Hierocles,  or  like  the  illuminati  of  the 
Alexandrian  school,  inclining  more  and  more  to  theurgy ; 
of  magicians,  who  were  either  deceivers,  or  themselves 
deceived ;  of  all  the  priests  who  lived  by  the  altar;  and  of 
the  abject  mass  of  a  corrupt  people,  who  sought  in  super- 
stition an  excuse  for  its  crimes  in  the  present  life,  and  a 
charm  against  the  terrors  of  the  life  to  come.  The  recog- 
nised head  of  this  party  was  Caesar  Galerius,  who  from 
his  childhood  had  been  under  the  influence  of  a  pagan 
mother,  a  vicious  and  superstitious  woman,  passionatelv 
attached  to  the  idols,  and  consequently  a  sworn  foe 
of  the  Christians,  whose  absence  from  the  impious 
festivals  over  which  she  presided  in  her  village,  she 
could  never  forgive.*  It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  would 
be  the  paganism  of  a  small  ignorant  town   of  Illyria; 

*  "  Erat  mater  ejus  Dea:  montium  cultrix.  Dapibus  sacrificabat 
pene  quotidie.  Christiani  abstinebant.  Hinc  concepit  odium 
ad  versus  eas,"     (JActantius.  "  De  Morte  Pcrsecutorum,"  xi.J 


204  THE    EARLY    YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

it  was  the  most  abominable  medley  of  all  vile  super- 
stitions, without  any  admixture  of  that  philosophic 
breadth  of  spirit,  which  asserted  its  influence  more  or 
less  in  all  the  great  cities.  The  son  of  Romula,  when 
he  mounted  to  the  throne,  had  not  abjured  either  the 
bigotry  of  his  native  village  or  the  blind  hatred  of  his 
mother  to  Christianity.  Prepared  for  a  life' of  cruelty 
by  one  of  infamy,  full  of  the  craving  for  sensual  indul- 
gence and  the  thirst  for  blood,  which  are  such  common 
associates,  capable  of  every  crime,  Galerius  was  the 
hope  of  the  pagan  party,  and  was  ready  to  be  its  passive 
instrument.  He  endeavoured  to  induce  Dioclesian 
to  depart  from  his  moderate  policy  towards  the  Chris- 
tians. It  was  already  known  that  he  was  not  favourable 
to  their  creed,  and  that  he  regarded  himself  as  the 
vigilant  guardian  of  the  national  traditions, — a  position 
strangely  assumed  by  an  emperor  who  had  introduced 
a  considerable  change  into  the  constitution  of  the 
empire.  We  find  the  following  declaration  in  a  decree 
issued  by  him  against  the  sect  of  the  Manicheans : 
"The  immortal  gods  have  established  and  determined 
by  their  providence  that  which  is  good  and  true.  Many 
wise  men  are  prepared  to  maintain  it.  There  must  be 
no  opposition  to  them  ;  no  new  religion  is  to  censure 
the  old,  for  it  is  a  great  crime  to  overthrow  that  which 
our  ancestors  have  established  and  which  is  the  law  of 
the  State."*  This  love  of  that  which  was  ancient 
might  to  a  certain  extent  retard  persecution,  for  the 
Church  formed  a  respectable  body  in  the  State,  and 
had  the  advantage  of  a  tradition  of  no  mean  antiquity ; 
but  it  might  also,  under  the  influence  of  hostile  sugges- 
tions, give  rise  to  the  most  sanguinary  reprisals  upon 
the  Christians.      Persecution  commenced  first   in  the 

*  Neander,  "  Church  History,"  Vol.  I.  p.  197. 


BOOK   I. — THE    LAST    GENERAL   PERSECUTION.       205 

camps.  We  have  already  pointed  out  how  closely 
military  service  was  associated  with  idolatrous  practices. 
If  the  Christians  were  to  be  allowed  to  lead  a  peaceable 
life  in  the  armies,  it  was  necessary  that  their  generals 
should  voluntarily  shut  their  eyes  to  many  infractions 
of  a  discipline  tainted  with  idolatry.  Let  any  motive  of 
self-interest  come  in  to  arouse  their  vigilance,  and  per- 
secution was  inevitable.  It  was  part  of  Galerius'  design 
to  awaken  everywhere  suspicion  of  the  Christians.  A' 
general,  whose  name  is  unknown,  but  who  was  probably 
an  agent  of  Galerius,  sought  out  diligently  in  his  army 
all  those  who  refused  to  sacrifice.  He  ignominiously 
expelled  the  soldiers  who  would  not  submit  to  his  orders, 
and  some  were  even  put  to  death.  Galerius  dared  not 
as  yet  openly  attack  the  great  body  of  the  Christians.* 
But  it  was  easy  to  falsify  facts  by  representing  that 
which  had  occurred  in  the  armies  as  a  dangerous  rebel- 
lion, and  thus  to  move  the  mind  of  Dioclesian  gradually 
to  persecution.  One  circumstance,  which  reveals  the 
complicity  of  the  priests,  contributed  to  dissipate  his 
scruples.  In  the  summer  of  the  year  302,  the  emperor, 
finding  himself  in  a  city  of  the  East,  resolved,  according 
to  pagan  custom,  to  consult  the  auguries  of  the  gods  by 
sacrifice.  He  was  surrounded  by  several  Christians,  who 
were  high  dignitaries  of  the  court.  The  priest,  who  had 
no  doubt  received  his  instructions,  repeated  the  sacrifice 
several  times,  pretending  that  the  divinity  refused  to  give 
a  reply  in  the  presence  of  his  worst  enemies.  This 
knavish  trick  accomplished  its  end;  the  emperor 
declared  that  all  who  would  not  sacrifice  to  the  gods 
should  be  driven  from  his  court,  and  he  commanded 
that  the   sacrifice   should  be   made  compulsory  in  the 

*  "Hnjci  cr—ai>iujr  rovroiv  tig  ttov  ko.1  devrepos  Qavarov  avTitcar^Warovro. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VIII.  iv.) 


206  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

armies.*  These  measures  prepared  the  way  for  a  general 
persecution.  This  was  decreed  in  the  year  303,  after  a 
council  of  the  empire,  held  under  the  presidency  of  Diocle- 
sian  in  presence  of  Galerius.  The  deliberation  was  long 
and  serious.  The  aged  emperor,  already  afflicted  with  the 
malady,  rather  moral  than  physical,  which  darkened  his 
later  life,  and  ultimately  constrained  him  to  lay  down 
the  empire  of  the  world  as  an  insupportable  burden, 
hesitated  before  giving  so  grave  a  decision.  He  repre- 
sented that  the  Church  formed  an  important  party,  that 
lengthened  toleration  had  allowed  it  to  gain  much 
ground  in  the  empire,  and  that  it  could  not  now  be 
washed  away  by  rivers  of  blood.  Galerius  had  the 
advantage  over  him  of  an  impetuous  spirit  and  a  stern 
resolve ;  his  victory  was  certain  over  his  irresolute  and 
half-hearted  colleague. t  In  order  to  dispel  all  remaining 
doubts  from  the  mind  of  Dioclesian,  it  was  decided  to 
consult  the  oracle  of  Apollo.  This  was  to  refer  the 
decision  of  the  matter  to  those  who  were  most  eager  for 
persecution,  and  to  fulfil  a  long-cherished  desire  of  the 
pagan  priests.  The  answer  of  the  oracle  was  given  in 
no  obscure  allegorical  form  ;  it  was  the  plain  expression 
of  the  hatred  of  the  priests  ;  and  Dioclesian  was  at  length 
convinced. X  On  the  morning  of  February  23rd,  a.d.  303, 
the  feast-day  of  the  god  Terminus,  a  centurion,  followed 
by  some  soldiers,  led  the  way  to  the  Christian  temple  of 
Nicomedia.  The  gates  were  burst  open,  the  building 
pillaged    and   destroyed.      The  pagan  soldiery  sought 

*  "  Mactatse  hostias  nihil  ostendebant,  tunc  ira  furens  sacrificare 
non  eos  tantum  qui  sacris  ministrabant,  scd  universos  qui  erant  in 
palatio  jussit,  etiam  milites."  (Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecuto- 
rum,"  x. ) 

+  "  Diu  senex  furori  ejus  repugnavit,  ostendens  quam  perniciosum 
esset  inquietari  orbem  terras."     (Ibid.,  xi.) 

J  "  Misit  ad  Apollinem  Milesium.  Respondit  ille  ut  divinae 
rehgionis  inimicus."     (Ibid  ,  x.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    LAST   GENERAL   PERSECUTION.       20J 

everywhere  for  the  image  of  the  proscribed  god,*  and 
failing  to  find  this,  they  wreaked  their  senseless  violence 
on  a  copy  of  the  sacred  scriptures,  which  they  consigned 
to  the  flames.  They  were  well  guided  by  the  instinct 
of  hate:  the  Divine  Word  was  in  truth  the  foundation- 
stone  of  the  Church.  The  next  day  the  first  decree  of 
proscription  was  published  in  Nicomedia,  and  from 
thence  speedily  spread  throughout  the  empire.  Its 
purport  was  that  "the  Christian  temples  were  to  be 
razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  copies  of  the  sacred  books 
thrown  into  the  fire  ;  that  the  Christians  who  held 
any  office  should  be  deprived,  and  slaves  persisting 
in  adherence  to  the  proscribed  faith  could  never  be 
enfranchised. "t  The  Christians  were  further  deprived 
of  the  right  of  bringing  any  action  into  court,  though 
any  kind  of  accusation  might  be  brought  against  them 
without  their  having  the  opportunity  of  self-defence. 
The  decree  concluded  with  a  threat  of  torture. £  There 
were  still  some  reservations  in  this  first  edict ;  no  men- 
tion was  made  of  capital  punishment,  but  when  once 
the  spirit  of  persecution  is  aroused,  it  bursts  through  all 
restraints.  The  persecutors  are  inevitably  drawn  on  to 
extremes  on  which  they  had  not  calculated,  because 
they  had  left  out  of  their  reckoning  one  element — the 
unbending  courage  and  heroism  of  conscience.  This 
first  decree  bears  clearly  the  impress  of  the  pagan 
philosophers ;    neither  Dioclesian    nor  Galerius  would 

*  "  Revulsis  foribus  simulacrum  Dei  quxritur."  (Lactantius,  "De 
Morte  Pcrsecutorum,"  xii  i 

f  Tar  fitv  ifcicXijTiur  etc  tca<pog  <pkpnv,  rag  Se.  ypaQag  iuftavtiQ  Trvpi 
yevzoTcti,  Ken  rovg  fdv  Tipijg  STreiXr] fifikvovg,  drifiovg,  rove  Si  ev  oiKSTiaig,  ti 
tTrifxkvoitv  tv  tTj  Toij  ^piaTiaviap-ov  irpoQkaet,  sXtvOipiu^  ortpiiaBai.  (Euse- 
bius.  "H.  E.,"  VIII.  ii.i 

%  "  Edictum,  quo  cavebatur  ut  tormentis  subjccli  cssent,  adversus 
eos  omnis  actio  caleret,  ipsi  non  de  injuria,  non  de  rebus  ablatis 
agere  possent."     (Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  xiii.) 


208  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

have  themselves  thought  of  proscribing  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures; this  was  the  cowardly  vengeance  of  impotent  men 
of  letters,  anxious  to  destroy  the  Divine  book  by  which 
they,  were  confounded.  The  edict  of  Dioclesian  placed 
the  Christians  at  a  greater  disadvantage  than  any 
previous  decree.  Against  them,  as  Seneca  said  of  slaves, 
everything  was  lawful.  Even  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of 
life  they  had  to  deal  no  longer  with  judges,  but  with  bitter 
enemies,  whether  cloaked  under  the  toga  of  the  magis- 
trate, or  the  mantle  of  the  philosopher.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  the  religious  society  thus  proscribed 
had  become  very  numerous,  that  it  had  enjoyed  now 
for  many  years  a  degree  of  toleration  which  had 
favoured  its  growth  ;  and  we  can  form  some  idea  of 
the  thrill  of  indignation  which  ran  through  the  whole 
community,  when  the  decree  was  formally  proclaimed 
which  legalised  against  its  members  every  sort  of 
iniquitous  proceeding,  from  spoliation  in  private  life, 
to  violence  in  the  Forum  and  all  public  places.  The 
Church  yet  numbered  many  humble  Christians,  ready, 
like  their  Master,  to  be  led  to  the  slaughter  without 
opening  the  mouth ;  but  it  had  also  in  its  ranks  men  of 
less  simple  piety,  who  knew  that  they  formed  a  strong 
and  powerful  party,  and  who  were  disposed  to  defend 
their  rights.  To  this  class  belonged  the  unknown 
Christian  who,  the  morning  after  the  promulgation  of 
the  decree,  tore  it  down  from  the  very  walls  of  the 
imperial  palace,  and  replaced  it  with  these  ironical 
words  :  "  These  are  the  victories  over  the  Goths  and 
the  Sarmatians  !  "*  Carried  at  once  to  the  stake,  he 
bore  his  torture  with  the  manly  courage  of  a  hero 
of  old.  We  have  already  alluded  to  a  notable  change 
in  the   attitude  of  many  of  the   accused  at  this  time 

*  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,»  VI 1 1,  v. 


BOOK    I. — THE    LAST    GENERAL    PERSECUTION.      20O, 

towards  their  persecutors  ;  their  replies,  as  we  have  them 
in  the  "Acts  of  the  Marytrs,"  are  more  haughty,  and 
some  do  not  scruple  to  call  the  proconsuls  tyrants.  We 
feel  that  the  Church  submits  as  yet,  but  that  it  could 
soon  assume  the  defensive  ;  there  is  in  this  the  evidence 
of  its  growth,  but  also  the  token  of  a  certain  deteriora- 
tion of  religious  feeling.  It  is  clearly  less  easy  to  the 
Christians  to  be  resigned;  even  the  women  show  that  they 
are  under  new  influences,  and  many  of  them  attempt  to 
elude  their  persecutors  by  committing  suicide.  At  Rome, 
a  Christian  Lucretia  plunges  the  dagger  into  her  own 
breast  to  escape  dishonour  ;*  and  at  Antioch,  a  mother 
and  her  two  daughters  throw  themselves  into  the  river, 
in  terror  of  the  torture  awaiting  them.t  Between  these 
two  classes — the  confessors  who  are  at  once  patient 
and  heroic,  and  those  who  are  heroic  only — comes 
in  the  whole  multitude  of  ordinary  Christians.  As  in 
the  previous  persecution,  there  were  many  defections ; 
a  large  number,  shrinking  from  open  apostasy,  sought 
some  circuitous  mode  of  evading  death.  Instead  of  the 
copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  they  surrendered  the 
manuscripts  of  some  heretical  books,  and  thus  tried 
to  satisfy  at  once  their  conscience  and  their  cowardice. 
They  were  called  traditores,  and  their  prudence  was 
judged  blameworthy  by  an  influential  party  in  the  African 
Church.  Thus  arose  the  Donatist  dispute,  which  was 
destined  to  excite  such  stormy  controversy  in  after 
times. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  story  of  this  terrible  per- 
secution. A  short  time  after  the  proclamation  of  the 
decree,  an  incendiary  fire  broke  out  on  two  occasions  in 
Dioclesian's  palace  at  Nicomedia.  Galerius,  of  course, 
charged  it  upon  the  Christians  ;  they,  with  more  show 
*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VIII.  xiv.  -|   Ibid.,  xii. 


210  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  reason,  accused  him  of  being  the  author  of  it,  since 
it  was  his  great  aim  and  interest  to  fan  the  flame  of 
persecuting  zeal,  and  not  for  an  instant  to  allow  it  to 
subside.''1  It  is  remarkable  that  the  same  calumnious 
charge  which  gave  rise  to  the  first  persecution  of  the 
Church,  should  have  also  been  used  to  stimulate  the 
last,  and  that  under  Dioclesian,  as  under  Nero,  the 
Christians  were  made  the  victims  of  a  false  charge 
of  incendiarism.  Dioclesian,  rendered  furious  by  the 
spectacle  of  the  fire,t  issued  three  new  edicts,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  was  to  sweep  away  Christianity  from  the 
earth.  The  first  enforced  the  imprisonment  of  all  the 
bishops ;  J  the  second  commanded  that  they  should  be 
put  to  the  torture  to  constrain  them  to  apostatise  ;  §  the 
third,  extending  to  Christians  indiscriminately  the 
measures  taken  at  first  against  the  bishops  alone, 
ordered  that  in  all  towns  and  villages  they  should  be 
compelled  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  under  penalty  of  the 
most  fearful  tortures.  ||  This  last  edict  was,  to  use 
the  powerful  words  of  Constantine,  written  with  the 
point  of  a  poignard,H  and  it  gave  full  scope  to  the  cruel 
genius  of  the  torturers.  So  soon  as  these  edicts  were 
promulgated  throughout  the  empire,  persecution  rose 
to    an    almost    unparalleled   height    of    fury.**      The 

*  "  Occultis  ministeriis  palatio  subjecit  incendium."  (Lactan- 
tius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  xiv.) 

t  "  Furebat  imperator."     (Ibid.,  xv.) 

X  Tovg  TravTa\6(Ti.  ru>v  tKicXijaioJu  Trfjoiarujrag  tlpKraig  kcli  ctv/JLolc  ivtipai. 
(Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VIII.  vi.) 

§  Tovg  KCLTCiKXtiarovg  Qvoavrag  piv,  sav  fiadi^HV  Itt'  kXsvQspiag  hviara- 
H'tvovg  ck,  pvpiaig  Kara^aiveiv  fiavavoig.      (Ibid.) 

|j  KaQoXiKtp  7rpo<TruypaTi  iravrag  Travoripd  rovg  Kara  iroXiv  Bvuv  re  Kal 
airkvbtiv  Tolg  iicuXoig  UiXevero.  (Eusebius,  "  De  Martyr.  Palestin.,"  iii.) 

IT  Eusebius,  "Vita  Constant.,"  ii.  5. 

*:  "  Vexabatur  ergo  universa  terra."  (Lactantius,  "  De  Morte 
Persecutorum,"  xvi.) 


BOOK   I. — THE    LAST   GENERAL    PERSECUTION.      211 

churches  were  pulled  down,  the  sacred  books  torn  to 
atoms  and  cast  into  the  flames  ;  the  prisons  were  filled 
with  Christians ;  the  vilest  criminals  were  let  loose  to 
make  way  for  them,  and  by  day  and  night  their  limbs 
were  torn  and  lacerated  by  instruments  of  torture. 
Blood  flowed  in  torrents.  Flight  was  very  difficult,  for 
there  was  scarcely  a  remote  hamlet  where  a  copy  of  the 
decree  had  not  been  affixed.  All  classes  of  society  paid 
their  tribute  of  blood  to  the  fury  of  the  pagans.  The 
wife  and  daughters  of  Dioclesian  were  themselves 
compelled  to  sacrifice  to  the  false  gods,*  a  sufficient 
indication  that  no  power  in  high  places  would  avail  to 
shield  those  Christians  who  remained  firm  and  faithful. 
The  first  victims  were  chosen  from  the  emperor's  own 
suite,  from  among  his  officers,  and  their  high  rank  only 
fired  the  rage  of  their  executioners,  who  inflicted  on 
them  the  most  horrible,  tortures.  One  young  man  of 
the  emperor's  staff,  named  Peter,  was  slowly  burnt 
upon  a  gridiron,  after  being  torn  almost  limb  from  limb. 
Dorotheus,  who  had  been  honoured  with  all  the  confi- 
dence of  his  master,  was  strangled. t  One  little  town  in 
Phrygia  was  entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  because  the 
greater  part  of  its  inhabitants  had  forsaken  their  idols.  J 
In  proconsular  Africa,  many  Christians  were  thrown  to 
the  wild  beasts.  It  seemed  sometimes  as  if  the 
heavenly  calm  and  courage  in  their  faces  daunted  for  a 
moment  the  rage  of  the  leopards  and  lions. §  Some 
were  quartered  or  burnt,  others  cast  into  the  sea  or 
torn  in  pieces  with  instruments  of  iron,  and  some  died  of 
famine  in  the  prisons.  The  persecution  extended  even 
to  the  deserts  01  the  Thebaid.     We  learn  from  the  evi- 

*  Lactantius,  "De  Morte  Pcrsecutorum  '    xv 

f  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VIII.  vi 

X  "OXijv  xpwTiavCjv  7ro\ixvr)i>.      ibid.,  ii.)  §  Ibid.,  vii. 


212  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

dence  of  Phileas,  Bishop  of  Thmuis,  that  at  Alex- 
andria the  magistrates  abandoned  the  c;ndemned  to 
the  fury  of  the  populace,  who  tormented  them  in  cruel 
sport.*  A  number  of  bishops  perished,  among  others 
Peter  of  Alexandria.  Felix,  Bishop  of  Tabora,  in 
Africa,  withstood  all  efforts  to  make  him  surrender  his 
copy  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  "  Here  is  my  body,"  he 
said,  "  take  it  and  burn  it ;  but  I  will  not  deliver  up  to 
men  the  book  which  contains  the  acts  and  words  of  my 
Saviour."  t  The  narrative  of  Eusebius,  who  resided  at 
Caesarea,  shows  how  bloody  was  this  persecution,  for 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Palestine  was  treated 
with  exceptional  severity.  The  Churches  of  Italy  were 
exposed  to  terrible  sufferings.  The  martyrdom  of  St. 
Sebastian  and  of  St.  Agnes  took  place  at  this  period. 
Gaul  alone  was  exempt,  thanks  to  the  moderation  and 
tolerant  spirit  of  Constantius  «Chlorus,  who  gave  only 
a  formal  compliance  with  the  edict  of  Dioclesian.  He 
destroyed  the  religious  edifices,  but  suffered  no  violence 
to  be  done  to  the  persons  of  any.  X 

It  is  not  our  task  to  trace  in  detail  the  great  political 
and  religious  revolution,  which  put  an  end  to  this  perse- 
cution, and  in  a  general  manner  to  all  persecution,  of 
the  Christians.  To  do  this  would  be  to  enter  upon  the 
history  of  the  fourth  century.  It  is  well  known  that 
after  the  voluntary  retirement  of  the  two  Augusti — 
Dioclesian  and  Maximian  Herculius — two  new  emperors 
ascended  the  throne.  These  were  Maximinus  Daza, 
who  reigned  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  and  Severus  in  Africa 
and  Italy,  concurrently  with  Galerius  and  Constantius 
Chlorus.     Constantius  was   soon   succeeded  by  his  son 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VIII.  x. 

t  Ruinart,  "Acta  Martyr." 

+  "  Dei  templum  quod  est  in  hominibus  incolume  servavit." 
(Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  xix  ) 


BOOK   I. — THE    LAST    GENERAL    PERSECUTION.      213 

Constantine.  In  order  to  reach  his  dying  father,  Con- 
stantine  was  obliged  to  deceive  Galerius,  in  whose 
court  he  was  a  hostage.  He  started  the  day  before 
that  fixed  for  his  departure,  and  rendered  pursuit  im- 
possible by  killing  all  the  imperial  relays  of  horses  on 
his  road.  For  one  moment  there  were  six  competitors 
for  the  empire,  for  the  old  Maximums  Herculius — who 
had  not  the  same  passion  for  gardening  as  Dioclesian — 
had  joined  himself  to  his  son  Maxentius  in  an  attempt 
to  gain  possession  of  Rome,  and  had  been  successful. 
Severus,  vanquished  and  killed  by  him,  was  succeeded 
by  Licinius.  During  the  sanguinary  conflicts  provoked 
by  these  ambitious  rivals,  the  Christians  had  respite. 
Persecuted  for  a  time  by  Maximums  Daza,  who  was 
leagued  with  Galerius,  they  soon  obtained  peace 
throughout  the  East.  Their  most  determined  enemy — 
tortured  with  the  same  fearful  disease  that  had  destroyed 
Herod  Agrippa,  in  despair  over  the  loss  of  Italy,  wrested 
from  him  by  Maxentius,  and  with  his  resources  com- 
pletely exhausted — turned  to  the  God  of  the  Galileans. 
The  edict  of  toleration  issued  by  Galerius  is  one  of  the 
most  amazing  monuments  of  history.  In  it  he  declared 
that  he  had  vainly  endeavoured  to  bring  back  the 
Christians  to  the  religion  of  the  empire  ;  that  it  was  to 
be  feared  many  of  them,  if  they  abandoned  their  own 
worship,  would  not  embrace  any  other;  and  that  con- 
sequently the  emperor,  in  his  clemency,  conceded  to 
them  the  right  to  assemble  together,  and  only  asked 
of  them  that  they  should  pray  to  their  God  for  his  res- 
toration to  health.* 

*  "  Contemplationc  mittissimre  nostras  clcmentue,  intuentes,  et 
consuetudinem  sempiternam  qua  solemus  cunctis  hominibus 
veniam  indulgere  promptissimam  in  his  quoque  indulgentiam 
nostram  credidimus  porrigcndam,  ut  denuo  sint  christiani.  et 
conventicula  sua  componant   ita  ut  ne  quid  contra  disciplinam 


214  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Christianity  thus  took  its  place  among  the  recognised 
religions  of  the  empire.  It  received  that  which  for 
three  centuries  it  had  been  vainly  demanding — a  legal 
status,  and  it  won  this  concession  from  the  fiercest 
of  its  foes.  It  was  a  signal  triumph.  Would  to  God 
that  the  proscribed  religion  had  rested  content  with  the 
right  to  subsist  unmolested,  and  to  develop  itself  freely 
in  the  empire,  and  had  never  ambitiously  sought  and 
attained  to  a  material  kingdom,  since  for  the  Church 
thus  to  reign  is  to  be  in  subservience  to  an  all-powerful 
protector  !  It  is  well  known  that  the  young  and 
brilliant  Constantine,  son  of  Constantius  Chlorus,  if  he 
did  not  actually  become  a  Christian,  at  least  espoused 
ardently  the  cause  of  the  new  religion,  and  destroyed 
the  pagan  party  at  the  Pons  Milvius  by  his  victory  over 
Maximius,  after  forcing  his  father-in-law,  Maximian 
Herculius,  to  put  an  end  to  his  own  life,  as  the  chastise- 
ment for  his  repeated  conspiracies.  Maximinus  had 
for  some  time  persecuted  the  Church  at  Rome,  and  he 
would  doubtless  have  sought  support  in  the  pagan 
party  had  he  been  victorious.  In  his  person,  however, 
that  party  received  its  final  defeat.  The  edict  of  Milan 
(a.d.  313)  apprised  the  world  that  a  new  era  had  begun. 
Unhappily  the  Church  also  entered  on  an  altogether 
new  career — that  of  patronage  and  state  protection.* 
That  which  it  was  about  to  gain  in  material  power,  it 
would  lose  in  moral  force  and  independence.  The 
victory  of  Constantine  over  Licinius,  which  had  freed 
him  from  Maximinus  Daza,  the  ally  of  Maximius,  gave 

agant.  .  .  Unde  juxta  hanc  indulgentiam  nostram,  debebunt 
Deum  suum  orare  pro  salute  nostra,  ut  undequoversum  respub- 
lica  perstet  incolumis,  et  secure  vivcre  in  sedibus  suis  possent." 
(Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  xlviii.  :  Eusebius,  "H.  E.," 
VIII.  xvii.) 

*  Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutorum,"  xlviii. 


BOOK    I. — THE    LAST   GENERAL    PERSECUTION.      215 

him  the  empire  of  the  world,  and  he  was  ahle  to  raise 
to  the  throne  the  religion  so  long  proscribed. 

We  must  pause,  however,  on  the  threshold  of  these 
new  times,  which  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of 
our  present  work.* 

If  we  cast  a  retrospective  glance  over  this  long  and 
blood)-  struggle,  we  shall  perceive  that  there  were  only 
eight  distinct  great  persecutions. 

The  first  burst  forth  under  Nero  (a.d.  64);  the  second 
under  Trajan  (a.d.  iio),  after  his  correspondence  with 
Pliny  the  younger  ;  the  third  under  Marcus  Aurelius 
(a.d.  177);  the  fourth  under  Septimus  Severus  (a.d.  194); 
the  fifth  under  Maximinus  (a.d.  238) ;  the  sixth  under 
Decius  (a.d.  249) ;  the  seventh  under  Valerian  (a.d.  257) ; 
and  the  eight  under  Dioclesian  (a.d.  308).  Augustine 
counts  ten  great  persecutions, t  but  this  computation 
supposes  one  under  Adrian,  and  another  under  Aurelian. 
We  find  no  reason  for  such  a  calculation  but  the 
desire  to  accommodate  the  facts  of  history  to  an 
arbitrary  typology. 

*  See,  on  this  whole  revolution,  M.  Broglie's  work,  "  L'Egliseet 
PEmpire  Romain  au  Quatrieme  Siecle,"  Vol.  I. 

f  Augustine,  "De  Civ.  Dei,"  XVII.  lii.  Sulpicius  Severus, 
"  Hist.  Sacrse,"  II.  xxxiii. 


BOOK   SECOND. 

THE  FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH  IN  THE 
SECOND  AND    THIRD    CENTURIES. 

CHAPTER   I. 

THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH    IN    THE    SECOND 
CENTURY. 

We  shall  devote  this  portion  of  our  work  to  the 
biography  and  characterisation  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries.  Their  doctrine  we  shall 
consider  presently  ;  our  object  now  will  be  to  bring 
their  individuality  into  full  relief. 

§  I.  The  Apostolic  Fathers.* 

The  Apostolic  Fathers  are  to  be  regarded  not  as  great 
writers,  but  as  great  historic  characters.  They  pre- 
served the  treasure  of  evangelical  doctrine,  without 
themselves  fully  knowing  all  it  contained.  They 
esteemed  it  nevertheless  more  highly  than  their  own  life, 

*  Beside  the  works  already  quoted,  we  refer  the  reader  to 
Cotelier,  "  Patrum  qui  temporib.  Apost.  floruerunt  Opera,"  Editio 
Clericus,  1698.  Haefele,  "  Patres  Apostol.,"  Edit,  1847.  Dressel, 
"Patrum  Apost.  Opera,"  Leipzig,  1857.  (This  is  the  edition  trom 
which  we  shall  quote.)  See  also  Hilgenfeld,  "  Die  Apostolischen 
Vaeter,"  Halle,  1857. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    217 

which  they  were  ever  ready  to  lay  down  at  the  call 
of  duty.  The  Christians  of  this  epoch  were  martyrs 
in  the  holiest  of  causes,  and  set  a  sacred  seal  on  the 
claims  of  God  by  their  faithfulness  to  the  truth,  and 
on  the  rights  of  man  by  their  resistance  to  all  religious 
tyranny.  The  apostolic  Fathers  accept  the  great 
principles  laid  down  in  the  previous  period  by  St. 
Paul  and  St.  John.  They  never  appeal  to  the 
ceremonial  law  in  opposition  to  the  law  of  Christian 
liberty.  But  since  Judaeo-Christianity  was  not  so  much 
a  simple  fact,  as  the  embodiment  of  a  principle  and 
natural  tendency  of  the  human  heart,  we  must  not  be 
surprised  to  meet  with  it  again  under  new  forms  in  the 
orthodox  Church,  at  the  commencement  of  the  second 
century.  The  divergencies  of  view  among  these  early 
Fathers  do  not  reach  positive  opposition.  There 
is  no  collision  of  hostile  parties  ;  no  stormy  discussion 
is  raised,  but  there  are,  nevertheless,  very  distinct 
shades  of  doctrine  variously  colouring  the  faith  in 
Christ,  which  is  held  in  common  by  all.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  have  Pauline  doctrine  represented  by  Clement 
of  Rome,  Ignatius  and  Polycarp.  The  teaching  of 
Polycarp  bears  also  the  distinct  impress  of  the  spirit 
of  St.  John,  whose  immediate  disciple  he  was.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  idealistic  symbolism  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  is  carried  to  the  verge  of  Gnosticism  by 
the  author  of  the  Epistle  known  as  that  of  Barnabas. 
Lastly,  Papias  and  the  writer  01  the  allegory  of  the 
Pastor,  revive,  if  not  the  views,  at  least  the  principles, 
of  Judaeo-Christianity. 

We  have  but  little  reliable  information  about  three 
of  the  apostolic  Fathers  —  Clement,  Ignatius,  and 
Polycarp.  They  are  better  known  to  us  through  their 
writings  than  through  the  often  contradictory  testimony 

15 


2l8  THE    EARLY    YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  history.  Clement  of  Rome  has  been  confounded, 
by  an  error  easily  to  be  understood,  with  the  Clement 
of  Philippi  whom  St.  Paul  calls  his  fellow-labourer.* 
The  ancient  Church,  knowing  tJ.at  Clement  had  been 
an  immediate  disciple  of  the  apostles,  and  finding  the 
same  name  in  one  of  Paul's  Epistles,  did  not  hesitate 
to  associate  him  with  the  missionary  travels  of  the 
great  apostle.  He  is  not,  however,  once  named  in 
the  Acts.  Indeed  we  learn  from  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians,  that  Clement  of  Philippi  was  still  in 
his  native  city,  till  within  a  very  short  period  before 
the  persecution  under  Nero.  Now,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  Clement  of  Rome  was  in  that  city  at  the  time 
of  the  martyrdom  of  the  two  apostles.  No  reliance 
can  be  placed  on  the  fables  of  the  "  Clementines," 
according  to  which  Clement,  who  is  elsewhere  con- 
founded with  the  consul  of  the  senatorial  family  of 
the  same  name  persecuted  under  Domitian,  became 
the  fanatic  follower  of  St.  Peter,  and  opponent  of 
St.  Paul,  t 

If  we  adhere  strictly  to  the  evidence  of  history,  we 
shall  recognise  in  Clement  a  member  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  a  pagan  by  birth,  who  was  converted  by  the 
preaching  of  Paul,  or  by  that  of  one  of  his  fellow- 
labourers.  According  to  Irenseus,  he  was  personally 
acquainted  with  the  apostles,  and  through  his  associa- 
tion with  them,  became  the  living  echo  of  their 
preaching.  X     Clement  of  Alexandria  goes  so  far  as  to 

*  Philip,  iv.  3  ;  Origen,  "  In  Johann  ,"  I.  xxix.  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.," 
III.  xv.  All  these  passages  are  carefully  reproduced  in  the  In- 
troduction to  the  Epistle  of  Clement  by  Cotelier. 

t  See  the  letter  from  Clement  to  Peter  in  the  "  Clementines/' 
Ulhorn  Edition.     See  also  the  epitome  of  it  in  Cotelier,  I.  p.  749. 

X  'O  icai  tujpaKojg  roiig  uaicapiovg  cittottoXovq.  (Irenaeus,  in  Eusebius, 
"  H.  E.,»  V.  vi.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   2IQ 

call  him  an  apostle  ;  Origen  speaks  of  him  only  as 
a  disciple  of  the  apostles.-  Regarded  by  Peter  and 
John  as  one  of  the  Christians  of  Rome,  most  eminent 
for  piety  and  capacity,  he  was  raised  by  them  to 
the  bishopric,  not,  be  it  remembered,  to  that  which 
was  regarded  as  the  episcopal  dignity  in  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries,  but  to  the  bishopric  in  its  primitive 
form,  which  was  identical  with  the  office  of  elder. 
Clement  shared  the  government  of  the  Church  with 
Linus  and  Anencletus,  who  were  bishops  or  elders  with 
him.  After  the  death  of  his  colleagues,  he  remained 
the  sole  elder  of  the  apostolic  epoch,  and  as  such 
exercised  a    moral   power   of    peculiar   weight,  t     We 

*  '0  cnro<jTo\oQ  KX/jju/jc  (Clement  of  Alexander, "  Stromates,"  IV. 
xvii  ;  Origen,  "  De  Princip.,"  II.  iii.) 

f  Regarded  from  the  stand-point  of  episcopal  theories,  it  is 
impossible  to  harmonise  the  evidence  of  the  Fathers  as  to 
Clement's  entry  upon  his  office.  According  to  Tertullian,  he 
seems  to  have  been  the  immediate  successor  of  St.  Peter.  (De 
Prescript,"  xxxii.)  This  is  also  St.  Jerome's  statement  :  "  Et 
Clemens  vir  apostolicus,  qui  post  Petrum  romanam  ecclcsiam 
rcxit."  (In  Esaia,  52.)  St.  Augustine,  on  the  other  hand,  and  the 
'*  Apostolical  Constitutions,"  speak  of  Linus  as  the  successor  of  St. 
Peter.  (St.  Aug.,  Epist.  liii.,  "Ad  Genedosum  ;"  "  Constitut.,"  VII. 
xlvi.)  Irenaeus  makes  Anencletus  follow  Linus,  so  that  Clement 
would  not  come  till  third  from  the  apostles.  ("Ad  Haeres.,"  III. 
iii  ;  Eusebius,  "  H.E.,"  V.  vi.)  An  attempt  has  been  made  to 
solve  the  difficulty  by  supposing  Linus  and  Anencletus  to  have  died 
before  Peter,  in  the  persecution  under  Nero;  but  this  is  contrary  to 
the  direct  testimony  of  Eusebius.  Epiphanes  suggests  that  Clement, 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  gave  place  to  Linus  in  the  bishopric. 
("Hares."  XXVII.  vi.)  Why  has  it  not  occurred  to  any  of  these, 
that  Clement  himself  puts  us  upon  the  track  of  the  true  solution  ? 
In  his  Epistle  he  recognises  only  two  degrees  in  the  Church 
hierarchy — elders  or  bishops,  and  deacons.  He  was  then  himself 
one  of  the  bishops  or  elders  of  the  Church  at  Rome  at  the  same 
time  with  Linus  and  Anencletus.  The  manner  in  which  he  is 
spoken  of  in  the  "Pastor  Hcrmas"  altogether  justifies  this 
opinion:  "Scribe  ergo  duos  libellos  et  mittcs  unum  Clementi 
et  unum  Graptge."  ("Pastor  Hennas,"  Visio  II.  4.)  See  Hil- 
genfeld,  "  Apostolichen  Vaster,'"'  p.  99. 


220  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

know  nothing  with  certainty  about  his  death.  But 
he  has  himself  made  us  acquainted  with  the  most 
important  event  of  his  life — ftis  official  intervention  in 
the  troubles  which  were  anew  agitating  the  Church 
of  Corinth.  His  letter  brings  before  us  the  principal 
features  of  his  moral  physiognomy.  He  wrote  towards 
the  end  of  the  first,  or  beginning  of  the  second  century. 
We  are  acquainted  with  the  occasion  and  aim  of  this 
letter.  He  designed  to  restore  harmony  in  one  of  the 
most  glorious  Churches  of  the  apostolic  age — in  that 
Church  of  Corinth  whose  dissensions  Paul  himself  had 
once  pacified,  and  which  seems,  from  the  description 
given  of  it  in  the  commencement  of  the  Epistle,* 
to  have  passed  long  years  of  calm  and  prosperity. 
The  writer  first  proceeds  to  describe  the  evil  he  desires 
to  cure — that  jealous  and  seditious  spirit  which, 
nurtured  among  the  Corinthians  by  their  proud  self- 
complacency,  has  deprived  them  both  of  righteousness 
and  peace.  Clement  earnestly  calls  upon  the  schis- 
matics to  repent,  and  to  seek  once  more  the  blessings 
of  the  meek  and  lowly. t  He  enforces  his  exhortations 
by  many  examples  drawn  from  sacred  history,  insisting 
especially  on  the  gentleness  of  Christ.  In  the  second 
part  of  his  letter,  the  pious  elder  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  enters  on  an  appeal  based  on  more  directly 
evangelical  grounds.  He  reminds  the  Corinthians  of 
the  value  and  greatness  of  the  Divine  grace,  of  which 
they  have  been  made  the  subjects.  This  grace  they- 
have  already  largely  received,  but  there  is  a  yet  more 
plenteous  manifestation  oi  it  reserved  for  them,  in  that 
glorious  resurrection  which  the  whole  world  joins  to 
proclaim. ;{;    Clement  invites  the  Christians  to  believe 

*  Clement,  "  Epist.  ad  Corinth.,"  i.  3. 
t  lbid.,vii.  25.  X  Ibid.,  xxiii.  28. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        221 

steadfastly  in  the  love  of  God,  and  to  respond  t  it  by  a 
holy  life.*  In  the  second  part  of  his  letter  he  also  enters 
upon  the  ecclesiastical  question,  properly  so  called, 
and  urges  the  Church  of  Corinth  to  maintain  within 
itself  a  well-regulated  organisation,  and  to  preserve  it 
with  the  same  vigilance  and  care,  as  the  ancient 
people  of  God  bestowed  on  the  Levitical  appoint- 
ments, t  The  epistle  concludes  with  a  eulogium  on 
charity,  and  with  fresh  exhortations  to  humility  and 
concord. 

Such  is  in  substance  the  Epistle  of  Clement  to  the 
Corinthians.  It  is  not  remarkable  for  brilliance  of 
style  or  power  of  thought.  It  is  loosely  put  together, 
and  the  thread  of  the  argument  is  often  lost  in 
the  profusion  of  illustration.  We  feel  in  reading  it, 
that  the  writer  is  not  a  man  of  powerful  mind,  nor 
has  he  that  passionate  energy  which  characterises  his 
race.  Absorbed  in  the  idea  of  the  necessity  of  har- 
mony, which  is  in  his  eyes  the  universal  law  of  the 
world,  he  finds  eloquent  words  in  which  to  set  forth 
its  manifestations  in  the  great  scenes  of  nature. 
"  The  heavens  are  under  the  control  of  God,  and 
submit  themselves  to  Him  day  and  night  in  peace; 
they  follow  their  appointed  course  without  interruption 
or  mutual  disturbance.  The  sun  and  moon  and  the 
chorus  of  the  stars  obey  His  command,  and  move 
on  harmoniously  and  undeviatingly  in  the  course  He 
has  marked  out  for  them."  Clement  thus  passes  in 
review  the  various  spheres  of  creation,  and  completes 
the  sublime  picture  with  these  words:  "  The  mighty 
Creator,  Lord  of  all  creatures,  has  ordained  that 
all  things  should  be  wrought  in  peace  and  har- 
mony, diffusing  His  benefits  upon  all,  and  most  of 
*  Clement,  "  Epist.  ad  Corinth.,"  xxxi.  40.       f  Ibid.,  xl.  48. 


222  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

all,  loading  those  with  His  goodness  who  have  fled 
for  refuge  to  lay  hold  of  His  mercy  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  and  majesty  for  ever 
and  ever."* 

Clement's  piety  is  not  of  the  sombre  and  melancholy 
cast,  which,  under  pretext  of  doing  honour  to  grace, 
despises  nature.  He  admires  natural  beauty  ;  he  sees 
in  it  a  divine  element,  and  loves  to  meditate  upon  it. 
He  challenges  its  testimony  in  support  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. "  Let  us  observe,"  he  says,  "  the  resurrection 
which  is  daily  wrought  before  our  eyes.  Day  and 
night  testify  to  it.  The  night  passes  away,  the  day 
rises  again.  Day  flees,  and  night  returns.  Let  us 
consider  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  the  seed,  how 
it  grows.  The  sower  goes  forth  to  sow  his  seed  in 
the  earth,  and  the  seed  laid  in  the  soil,  bare  and 
barren  grain,  there  dies.  From  this  death  Divine 
Providence  brings  forth  the  germs  of  new  life  ;  they 
multiply  and  bear  fruit."  t  That  which  strikes  us 
in  Clement  is  his  serenity.  We  feel  that  he  himself 
enjoys  that  deep  and  abiding  peace,  which  he  urges 
the  Corinthians  to  seek.  J  It  is  impressed  on  every 
page  he  writes,  while  his  thoughts  flow  on  like  a  broad 
and  quiet  stream,  never  swelling  into  a  full  impetuous 
tide.  The  commandments  of  God  are,  to  use  his 
own  expression,  inscribed  in  the  breadth  and  depth 
of  his  heart.  §  Hence  the  fulness  of  expression  which 
he  gives  to  them.  We  feel  that  this  man  has  a  great 
love  for  Jesus  Christ,  and  calm  as  is  his  nature, 
he  finds  words  full  of  loftiness  and  fire  when  this  is 
his  theme.     "  Behold,"  he  says,   "  the  way  of  our  sal- 

*  Taura    Travra    6    jxkyag   Otf/itovpyog    Kai    ct<T7Ti,T)]Q   r(ov    anavTiov   iv 
opovoiq,  Kai  tipiivy  irpoGiTa&v  elvai.     (Clement,  "Ad  Corinth.,'  xx.) 
f  TSutfifv   T>)v    Kara    Kaipbv    yivo/xtv)]v   avaarcMTiv.      (Ibid.,  xxiv) 
X  Ibid.,  ii.  §  'Etti  to.  7t\ut>]  ti~^  Kapciag.     (Ibid) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   223 

vation,  Christ  Jesus,  the  high  priest  of  our  sacri- 
fice, the  comforter  and  strength  of  our  weakness. 
Through  Him  we  rise  to  sit  in  heavenly  places. 
He  unveils  to  us  His  face,  glorious  in  holiness ; 
by  Him  the  eyes  of  our  heart  are  opened,  our  barren 
and  darkened  understanding  expands  beneath  His 
shining  into  marvellous  light.  God  has  been  pleased 
to  reveal  to  us  in  Him  the  excellent  glory  of  His 
majesty,  He  being  so  much  higher  than  the  angels, 
as  He  hath  by  inheritance  a  more  excellent  name 
than  they."* 

If  in  Clement  we  note  the  principal  traits  of  the 
Roman  character,  we  find  in  Ignatius  altogether  a 
Greek  of  Asia  Minor.  His  soul  burns  like  the  sun 
in  his  native  sky.  The  circumstances  of  his  later 
life  alone  are  known  to  us.  It  is  ascertained  that 
he  was  Bishop  of  Antioch,  and  like  Clement,  an  imme- 
diate disciple  of  the  apostles.  Although  he  had  in 
all  probability  seen  and  known  St.  John,  and  had  not 
had  any  personal  acquaintance  with  St.  Paul,  he  is 
nevertheless  clearly  a  disciple  of  Paul's  school.  The 
teaching  of  Paul  has  taken  strong  hold  of  his  mind,  and 
in  his  character  he  recalls  to  us  the  great  apostle. 
Ignatius  has  too  often  been  regarded  as  the  most 
powerful  champion  of  the  episcopal  system,  and  as 
imbued  with  all  the  prejudices  of  the  clerical  hierarchy. 
Thanks  to  recent  discoveries,  these  assertions  can  now 
be  truly  weighed,  and  are  found  wanting.  In  fact,  ac- 
cording to  a  Syriac  manuscript,  which  has  thrown  much 
light  upon  this  question,  three  only  of  the  seven  letters 
attributed  to  Ignatius  are  genuine.  It  is  even  possible 
for  us  to  distinguish,  the  original  text  from  the  spurious 

*    AlU    TOVTOV    l)    UGVVtTOQ    KCli  t(TKOTi>)^:-l'l]  Siavoia  ///IWJ'  uvaQaWti  tig  TO 

Oavfiaarbv  avroii  <pu>g.     (Clement,  "Ad  Corinth,"  xxxvi.) 


224  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

addition.*  This  expurgation  has  restored  the  letters 
of  Ignatius  to  their  true  character.  If  they  still  show 
a  leaning  towards  episcopacy,  it  is  in  the  measure  in 
which  such  a  manifestation  was  possible,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  second  century ;  and  instead  of  a 
tissue  of  legends,  we  have  precise  details  as  to  the 
martyrdom  of  the  courageous  bishop. t 

Pliny's  letter  to  Trajan  has  shown  us  the  great 
progress  made  by  Christianity  in  Asia  Minor.  This 
progress  had  alarmed  the  magistrates,  and  called  forth 
severe  measures  of  repression ;  the  number  of  the 
accusations  advanced,  doubtless  gave  rise  to  the  letters 
of  the  proconsul  of  Bithynia.  The  same  causes  and 
effects  must  have  been  at  work  in  the  adjoining 
provinces.  The  Christians  were  condemned  for  high 
treason,  and  the  decree  of  Trajan,  dealing  with  secret 
societies,  was  applied  to  them.  The  most  illustrious 
victim  of  these  preliminary  persecutions,  which  pre- 
ceded the  edict  of  a.d.  iio,  following  on  the  letter 
of  Pliny,  was  the  Bishop  of  Antioch.  He  would  be 
doubtless  one  of  the  first  to  fall,  since  it  is  certain  he 
was  one  of  the  most  active  propagators  of  the  new  faith, 
and  that  if  the  temples  of  the  gods  were  deserted,  it 
was  in  great  part  through  his  influence.  Antioch  had 
been  at  the  commencement   of  the  second    century   a 

*  See  Note  B,  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. 

f  We  do  not  admit  the  authenticity  of  the  "Acts  of  the  Martyr 
Ignatius,"  even  in  their  most  modern  version,  for  the  following 
reasons  :  First,  the  "  Acts "  were  not  known  to  Eusebius,  tor  he 
gives  no  account  of  the  interview  between  Trajan  and  Ignatius, 
which  he  would  certainly  have  done  had  he  read  the  circumstantial 
details  given  in  the  "  Acts."  Second,  they  speak  of  a  general 
persecution  which  did  not  take  place  under  Trajan.  Third,  they 
contain  a  flagrant  anachronism,  for  they  place  the  martyrdom  of 
St.  Ignatius  in  the  year  106,  and  consequently  assign  Trajan's 
visit  to  Antioch  to  that  date.  Now,  that  visit  was  not  made  till 
A.D,  115,  on  his  return  from  his  war  with  the  Parthians. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    225 

centre  of  active    mission  work,    a   focus   of   light    for 

all  Asia  Minor.     Ignatius,  accused  of  the  crime  of  high 

treason,   was  condemned   to   death ;    his  sentence  ran 

that  he  should  be  carried  to  Rome,  there  to  fight  with 

wild   beasts.     This  torture  had    a   double    advantage  ; 

it  ensured  the  terrible  punishment  of  the  offender,  and 

it  afforded  to  the  Roman  people,  one  of  those  sanguinary 

spectacles  which  it  so  dearly  loved.     For  a  long  time 

all    restrictions    on    this    barbarous    usage    had    been 

removed.     The    proconsul    Aquilius,    in    the    war   of 

Mithridates,  had  sent  to  Rome  as  many  as  a  thousand 

captives.*     There  had  been  no  lack  of  victims  under 

Nero  and  his  successors,  who  had  been,  indeed,  lavish 

purveyors  for  the  circus.     The  number  had  diminished 

under   Trajan.      Thus,   when   the    occasion    presented 

itself  with   some   show  of  justice,  to  give  the  Roman 

populace    a    spectacle    all    the   more   choice  for   being 

now   more    rare,    it   was    eagerly   turned    to    account. 

Ignatius  was  to  appear  as  a  criminal  of  the  worst  class. 

He  was  sent  to  Rome,  laden  with  chains,  and  led  by 

ten    soldiers,   whom    he    likens   to  so    many  leopards. 

If  his  journey  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  triumphal 

march    described    in    his    apocryphal    letters,    there    is 

no    difficulty    in     supposing    that     he     might    be   able 

from   time   to  time  to   hold    communication    with    his 

brethren.     The  conduct  of  the  Churches  towards  him 

is  a  touching  proof  of  the  love  which  then  bound  all 

Christians  together.     They  do  not,  indeed,  send  to  him 

numerous  embassies,  but  only  some  delegates  as  their 

representatives.     The    Church   of   Ephesus   sends   one 

of  her   bishops.     Ignatius    makes    use    of  the    liberty 

*  Examples     of    sentences     similar    to  that    pronounced    on 

Ignatius    may   be    seen    in   the    Fathers.  (Justin,    "Dial,    cum 

Tryph.,"    no;    "  Hermas    Pastor,"    Visio  III.    2;     "  Epist.   ad 
Diognat.,"  vii.) 


226  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

granted   him,  to  address   last  words  of  exhortation  to 
his  companions  in  labour. 

In  chains,  and  under  sentence  of  certain  death,  his 
martyrdom  may  be  said  to  have  already  begun.  Every 
word  he  utters  under  such  circumstances,  is  full  of 
weight  and  authority.  What  an  impression  must  have 
been  produced  on  the  Church  by  the  warnings  of  one 
who  could  thus  write  :  "And  now,  in  my  chains,  I  learn 
that  I  have  nothing  more  to  desire.  I  have  already 
begun  to  fight  with  wild  beasts  ;  from  Syria  to  Rome, 
across  sea  and  land,  I  was  chained  to  ten  leopards, 
whom  kindness  only  rendered  more  cruel.  Their 
outrages  make  me  only  the  more  the  disciple  of  Him 
who  was  crucified ;  but  it  is  not  this  which  justifies 
me."  *  Words  thus  written  are  the  sad  and  sacred 
testimony  of  martyrdom.  His  three  epistles,  in  their 
genuine  form,  are  the  farewells  of  a  Christian  hero. 
They  have  that  terse  conciseness  which  belongs  to  the 
language  of  action.  It  is  clear  they  were  written  in 
haste,  by  a  man  who  desired  to  put  all  his  Christianity 
into  the  few  words  hurriedly  penned,  in  moments  when 
the  vigilance  of  hisiierce  gaolers  was  relaxed.  A  strange 
fire  flashes  from  those  broken  words  as  from  fretted 
flints. 

The  first  letter  of  Ignatius,  written  to  Polycarp,  the 
young  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  and  the  second,  addressed  to 
the  Ephesians,  in  the  person  of  their  Bishop  Onesimus, 
show  that  the  martyr  was  the  worthy  follower  of  St. 
Paul  and  St.  John,  the  faithful  disciple  of  the  Good 
Shepherd  who  gives  His  life  for  the  sheep.  Ignatius  is 
in  truth,  great  as  a  pastor,  because  of  the  great  love  he 

*  Gjjptojua^w  £ui  GaXacrvriQ  Kal  yTjq.  ("  Epist.  ad  Roman.,"  Hi.) 
We  quote  from  the  text  given  by  Bunsen.  ("  Analecta  Ante- 
niccena,"  i.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        227 

bears  to  the  Churches,  and  his  great  devotion  to  them. 
If  he  had  used  some  influence  in  building  up  episcopal 
power,  he  had,  at  least,  a  heroic  conception  of  the  duties 
of  a  bishop.  The  counsels  which  he  gave  to  Polycarp 
on  the  exercise  of  his  office,  are  those  of  a  veteran 
transmitting  to  younger  hands  the  torn  banner  which 
he  himself  has  valiantly  defended.  All  the  images 
employed  by  him  point  to  the  militant  state  of  the 
martyr  Church.  "  Watch,"  he  wrote  to  Polycarp, 
"like  a  good  soldier  of  God;  the  prize  is  an  incor- 
ruptible crown  of  life.  Stand  fast  in  the  truth  ;  be 
like  iron  under  the  anvil.  It  is  the  part  of  a  good 
soldier  to  win,  even  though  wounded.  We  must  be 
ready  to  bear  all  for  God,  that  He  Himself  may  bear 
us  up.  Let  thy  zeal  grow  great.  Learn  to  discern 
the  times.  Consider  Him  with  whom  is  no  time — the 
invisible,  inaccessible  God,  who  for  us  took  on  Him 
a  visible  form,  who,  knowing  no  sorrow,  bowed  beneath 
the  burden  of  our  woe,  and  suffered  all  for  us."* 
"  Labour,  fight,  run,  suffer  together,"  he  adds,  ad- 
dressing the  Christians  of  Smyrna  ;  "  seek  to  please 
Him  who  has  chosen  you  to  be  His  soldiers  and 
servants;  He  will  pay  you  your  wages.  Let  not  one 
of  you  turn  deserter. "t  The  pastor  is  not  merely  a 
soldier,  in  the  view  of  Ignatius  ;  he  is  also  the  watchful 
guardian  of  the  flock,  which  he  is  to  encompass  ever 
with  his  prayers.  "  WTatch,"  says  he  again,  "with 
a  spirit  that  never  slumbers.  Bear  thou  the  burdens 
of  all  like  a  strong  man.  When  the  agony  is  great, 
great  is   the   gain.J     If  thou  lovest  only  the  faithiul 

*  N/}0£    dig   Qeov    d9\t]T))r,    ori}0i    tv   d\7)Qtia    ug   ukj-hov  TVTTTufitvog. 
(Ignatius,  "  Ad  Polycarp,"  i.) 
f  "Ad  Polycarp,"  iii. 
J  "Qirov  TrXtiujv  KuTrog,  ttoXv  Kal  Kipoog.     (Ibid.,  i.) 


228  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

disciples,  thou  art  not  merciful.  Be  long-suffering 
towards  the  most  unworthy  of  the  flock."  Thus  does 
Ignatius  blend  gentleness  with  power.  He  magnifies 
the  office  of  a  bishop,  only  because  he  forms  so  high  a 
conception  of  the  greatness  of  the  bishop's  responsibility, 
and  demands  of  him  nothing  less  than  that  he  bear 
the  burdens  and  sorrows  of  his  whole  Church,  after  the 
example  of  Christ  Himself.  That  example  he  sets 
before  Christians,  that  they  may  embrace  in  their  large 
compassions  the  whole  human  race,  and  especially 
their  most  bitter  enemies.  "  Pray,"  he  says,  "  for 
all  men  (since  there  is  hope  of  repentance  for  them 
also),  that  they  may  give  themselves  to  God.  Strive 
to  enlighten  them  by  your  life.  Be  gentle  and  pitiful 
when  they  are  insolent  and  cruel.  Give  them  prayers 
for  their  blasphemies  ;  let  your  steadfastness  in  the 
faith  reprove  their  errors ;  show  kindness  for  their 
hardness,  never  suffering  yourselves  to  hate  as  they 
hate.  Be  followers  of  the  Lord  in  all  meekness.  Who 
was  ever  more  despitefully  used  than  He,  and  shame- 
fully entreated  and  spitted  on  ?"*  Let  us  not  forget 
that  he  who  thus  wrote  was  himself  already  on  the  way 
to  the  circus  at  Rome. 

We  can  imagine  how  the  love  of  God  and  of  Christ 
glowed  in  this  ardent  soul.  He  wrote  to  Polycarp : 
"  The  time  has  come  to  desire  earnestly  the  possession 
of  God,  as  the  pilot  desires  the  favourable  wind,  and 
the  storm-driven  sailor  the  quiet  haven. "t  "  And  now," 
he  says  to  the  Romans,  "  there  is  not  in  all  my  heart 
one  spark  of  desire  for  aught  of  earthly  good. "J  We 
find,  indeed,  in  Ignatius,  that  which  may  be  called  the 
passion  for  the  unseen.     In  an  image  full  of  grandeur, 

*   Nt)  (nrovddZovrtg  avTif.ui.u)<jacrQai.  avToug.    ("Ad  Ephes.,"  ft.) 
f  "  Ad  Polycarp,"  i. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        229 

he  likens  death  to  a  glorious  sunset,  preceding  the 
radiant  dawn  of  a  divine  day.*  Faith  opens  to  him 
far-reaching  vistas  of  eternal  bliss.  Ignatius  speaks  of 
the  cross  with  a  mystical  fervour.  It  is  by  the  cross, 
Christ  raises  and  builds  up  the  living  stones  into 
the  spiritual  temple,  till  the  topmost  stone  is  brought 
forth  with  shoutings  to  the  glory  of  God.t  "  My  soul," 
he  exclaims,  "  bows  down  adoring  before  the  cross ; 
that  scandal  of  the  unbelieving  is  salvation  and  eternal 
life  to  us. "|  He  sees  in  the  star  followed  by  the  Magi, 
the  inauguration  of  that  kingdom  of  Christ,  the  mystery 
of  which  cannot  be  fathomed  by  the  Tempter,  who, 
when  he  has  spent  all  his  efforts,  has  but  prepared  the 
way  for  the  great  triumph  over  death. § 

Ignatius  has  often  been  reproached  for  his  epistle  to 
the  Romans,  written  on  hearing  that  the  Christians 
of  Rome  were  making  some  efforts  to  obtain  grace 
from  the  emperor.  This  letter  exhibits  a  fanatic 
desire  for  martyrdom,  and  is  certainly  wanting  in  that 
admirable  equilibrium  of  feeling,  so  striking  in  the 
epistle  addressed  by  St.  Paul  to  the  Philippians  under 
similar  circumstances.  The  desire  for  death  is  not 
kept  in  subjection  with  Ignatius,  as  with  the  apostle, 
by  the  clear  view  of  the  services  he  could  still  render 
to  the  Church,  by  continuing  in  the  flesh.  His  mind 
fixes  upon  one  thing — the  deliverance  from  the  fetters 
of  earthly  life,  the  triumph  with  Christ,  the  full  posses- 
sion of  God.  "  I  am  afraid,"  he  writes  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  Rome,  when  approaching  their  city,  "  I  am 
afraid   of  your  love.     I  fear  lest  it  may  do  me  wrong. 

*  KaXuv  to  cvvai  cnrb  Kuap.ov  Trpix;  Qt'uv,  'iva  tiQ  avruv  a'vartiXio.  ("  Ad 
Roman.,"  i.) 

f  '  Ava<pipop.'ti>oi  fie;  to.  vxl/7]  eta  rijfi  flllXavW  'I^croO  Xpiarov  of  ton 
cravpuQ.     ("  Ad  Ephes.,"  i.) 

X  npo<TKvvT]fxa  tu  l-.fibv  irvivna  tov  aravpov.    (Ibid.,  ii.j         §  Ibid.,  iii. 


230      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

I  shall  never  again  have  such  an  opportunity  of  entering 
into  the  full  possession  of  God.  Let  me  become  the 
prey  of  the  wild  beasts,  that  God  may  become  wholly 
mine.  I  am  God's  wheat ;  the  teeth  of  the  fierce 
beasts  will  but  bruise  me,  that  I  may  be  changed 
into  the  fine  bread  of  my  God.  Rather,  then,  do  ye 
encourage  the  beasts,  that  they  may  become  my  tomb, 
and  leave  nought  of  my  body  to  oppress  me  in  my  last 
sleep.  I  shall  be  a  true  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  when 
the  world  sees  my  body  no  more."*  These  words  are 
evidently  the  passionate  expression  of  overwrought 
feeling.  Ignatius  would  have  been  more  truly  like  his 
Master,  had  he  less  ardently  panted  after  martyrdom, 
and  waited  with  patience  till  he  also  could  say,  "  The 
hour  is  come  ;  "  as  it  assuredly  did  come  in  that  age 
to  every  faithful  witness  of  the  truth.  If,  however, 
his  impatience  to  die  was  excessive,  that  very  excess 
was  not  without  a  salutary  effect,  at  a  time  when  the 
alternative  of  apostasy  or  death  was  about  to  be  offered 
to  thousands  of  Christians.  They  would  remember 
with  what  joy  Ignatius  had  entered  the  arena,  the  dust 
of  which  was  to  lick  up  the  blood  of  so  many  martyrs ; 
and  above  the  roaring  of  the  lions  and  the  imprecations 
of  the  crowd,  they  would  hear  the  joyous  tones  of  his 
triumphal  hymn,  "Welcome,  nails  and  cross  ;  welcome 
broken  bones,  violence  of  fierce  beasts,  wounded  limbs 
and  bruised  body ;  welcome  all  diabolic  torture,  if  I  may 
but  obtain  Jesus  Christ. "t 

It  is  only  just  to  remark  further,  that  Ignatius  had  no 
idea  of  procuring  to  himself  any  merit  towards  God  by 
his  suffering.  His  humility  was  as  great  as  his  courage. 
After  writing  to  the  Ephesians,  that  it  is  better  to  be  a 
Christian  even  in  silence,  than  to  speak  without   being 

*"  Ad  Roman.,"  iv.  f  "iva  'Itjvov  Xpiorov  lirirvx^'     (Ibid.) 


COOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   23I 

so — in  other  words,  that  seeming  is  nothing,  reality 
everything-,-  he  says  to  the  Romans,  "  Ask  for  me 
that  I  may  have  strength  without  and  within,  so  that  I 
may  not  merely  speak  but  feel,  that  I  may  not  be  a 
Christian  in  word  only  but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  If  I 
am  found  thus,  I  may  be  pronounced  faithful,  for 
then  I  shall  not  only  appear  so  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world.  Nothing  that  seems  good  to  the  world  is  truly 
good.  Christianity  not  only  commends  its  doctrine 
when  it  is  hated  of  thfe  world,  but  only  then  reaches  its 
true  grandeur."  t  Again,  "  Being  now  close  to  Rome," 
he  wrote,  "  I  think  of  many  things  in  God  ;  but  I  keep 
myself  in  subjection,  lest  I  should  yield  to  pride.  It  is 
a  moment  in  which  to  tremble,  lest  I  should  be  exalted 
above  measure.  Those  who  call  me  martyr,  scourge 
me.  I  rejoice  in  the  suffering,  but  I  know  not  if  I  am 
worthy  of  it."J  That  which  Ignatius  so  eagerly  sought 
in  death,  was  the  full  possession  of  Jesus  Christ. 
"  I  crave  for  no  mortal  food ;  I  desire  no  earthly 
pleasure.  I  want  the  bread  of  God,§  which  is  the  body 
of  Christ ;  I  want  to  drink  His  blood,  which  is  immortal 
love."  These  words  reveal  the  whole  soul  of  Ignatius, 
the  deep  piety,  the  fervent  love  to  Christ,  and  the  tone 
of  exalted  and  mystical  feeling,  which  is  ordinary  to 
him.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how  such  a  man  might 
become  an  object  of  ridicule  in  the  eyes  of  the  cynical 
and  sceptical  philosophers  of  an  age  of  declining  piety. 
After  enduring  torture  in  humility  and  obscurity, 
Ignatius   was  made   the   victim  of   the   biting  raillery 

-  •  "Apeiruv  l.rj-i  aiM-rrav  kcil  tlvcu  1)  \a\ovrra  p>)  elvat.  ("Ad 
Ephes.,"  ii.) 

f  Ovctv  (paivopevov  ayaOov.  Ov  ireiapov7\Q  to  apyov,  a\\a  peyWovg 
I.otiv  o   xPl(TTUU'l(Tli0£  orav  piaifrai  inrb  Koapov.      ("  Ad  Roman.,"  i.) 

X  Oi  yap  XtyovTtQ  poi  p.aprvQ  paanyovai  pt.      (Ibid.,  V.) 

§  "ApTov  Oeoii  OeXuj.     (Ibid.,  iv.) 


232  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  Lucian,  who,  as  we  shall  presently  show,  was 
undoubtedly  aiming  at  him  in  his  "  Peregrinus,"  little 
deeming,  when  he  did  so,  that  he  was  furnishing 
valuable  evidence  to  those  who  in  after  days  would 
seek  to  establish  the  authenticity  of  the  martyr's 
letters. 

The  "  Acts  of  Ignatius  "  narrate  in  detail  the  circum- 
stances preceding  his  torture,  the  impatience  of  the 
soldiers  who  hurried  on  his  march,  in  order  to  arrive 
in  Rome  before  the  end  of  the  public  games ;  the 
eagerness  of  the  Christians  to  meet  him,  and  finally, 
his  last  words,  obviously  borrowed  from  his  letters.* 
This  whole  story,  however,  is  of  no  historical  value. 
Like  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  Ignatius  came  to  his  end 
obscurely.  Nothing  is  more  remote  from  the  melo- 
dramatic than  the  death  of  the  saints. 

He  left  behind  him,  in  Asia  Minor,  a  young  man, 
raised,  perhaps  by  John  himself,t  to  the  office  of  elder 
in  the  Church  of  Smyrna,  and  destined  to  exercise  a 
great  influence  over  the  Christians  in  those  countries. 
This  young  man  was  Polycarp.  Ignatius  had  already 
noted  in  him  remarkable  steadfastness  in  the  faith.;}; 
He  was  planted  upon  the  rock  of  apostolic  teaching. 
The  Church  which  he  governed  was  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  in  Asia  Minor,  and  is  exhibited  to  us  in  the 
Revelation  as  displaying  courageous  fidelity  under 
persecution.§  Polycarp  had  been  the  immediate  dis- 
ciple of  St.  John,  and  ever  cherished  his  sacred  memory. 
It  was   the  constant   theme   of  his   conversation  and 

*  See  these  details  in  the  "Acta  Ignatii;"  Haefele,  "Patres 
Apostol.,"  53-57  ;  Cotelier,  II.  171. 

f  Tertullian,  "  De  Prescript.,"  xxxii. 

X  "  Having  known,"  says  Ignatius,  "  thy  doctrine  founded  in 
God  as  on  a  rock  that  cannot  be  shaken."  (Qg  IttI  Tzkrpav  o.kivt]tov.) 
"Ad  Polycarp,"  i.)  §  Rev.  ii.  8-1 1. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.         233 

preaching.  Irenseus,  who  was  the  disciple  of  Polycarp, 
writes  :  "  I  could  point  out  the  spot  where  the  blessed 
Polycarp  sat  to  teach.  I  could  describe  his  gait,  his 
countenance,  all  his  habits,  even  the  clothes  he  was 
accustomed  to  wear.  I  could  repeat  the  discourses 
which  he  delivered  to  the  people,  and  recall  all  that  he 
said  of  his  intimacy  with  St.  John,  and  the  narratives 
he  used  to  relate  about  those  who  had  seen  the  Lord 
upon  earth.  His  memory  was  constantly  dwelling  on 
that  which  they  had  told  him  of  the  words,  the 
miracles,  the  doctrine  of  Christ."*  This  valuable 
testimony  shows  how  eminently  qualified  was  Polycarp, 
for  effecting  the  transition  from  the  apostolic  to  the 
following  age.  He  delighted  to  be  the  docile,  almost 
passive  echo  of  the  apostles.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  he  should  not  have  displayed  much 
originality,  though  commanding  such  universal  respect. 
He  was  the  living  tradition  of  the  Church.  His  letter 
to  the  Philippians  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  idea 
Irenseus  gives  us  of  him.t     He  appeals  perpetually  to 

*   Kai    7rspt    too  KVpiov   Tiva  yv  (i  7rapd  iKiivav    ciKrjKoei.      (Irenasus, 

"  Epist.  ad  Florinum,"  in  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  V.  xx.) 

\  The  genuineness  of  this  letter  has  been  called  in  question  by 
Daille,  and  in  our  own  day  by  Schwegler  and  Baur  ;  but  their 
objections  rest  on  an  a  priori  argument.  The  external  evidence  is 
very  strongly  in  its  favour.  The  testimony  of  Irenaeus,  the  disciple 
of  1'olycarp,  is  of  great  weight.  (Irenajus,  "Adv.  Hajres.,"  III. 
iii.  ;  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  IV.  xiv..  III.  xxxvi.  ;  St.  Jerome,  "  Catal. 
Script.  Eccles.,"  xvii.)  The  question  of  its  integrity  is  more 
difficult.  The  two  last  chapters  seem  like  an  interpolation,  and 
possibly  we  may  recognise  in  them  the  same  hand  which  made 
us  to  the  epistles  of  Ignatius.  We  find  a  proof  of  this 
interpolation  in  a  singular  contradiction  between  chapters  ix.  and 
xiii.  In  chapter  ix.,  Ignatius  is  represented  as  already  dead;  and  in 
chapter  xiii.,  the  author  asks  for  tidings  of  him,  as  if  he  were  still 
living.  "  Et  dc  ipso  Ignatio  et  de  his,  qui  cum  co  sunt,  quod 
certius  agnoveritis  signiticate."  (See  Bunsen,  "  Ignatius  und  seine 
Zeit,"  118.) 

1G 


234  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  memory  of  the  apostles,  and  as  he  is  addressing 
a  Church  founded  by  St.  Paul,  he  invokes  especially 
the  name  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  "  It  is  not 
in  arrogance,"  he  says,  "  I  write  to  you  these  things, 
but  because  you  have  constrained  me.  In  truth,  I  am 
not  more  able  than  any  other,  to  reproduce  the  wisdom 
of  the  blessed  and  glorious  Paul,  who,  when  he  was 
with  you,  taught  you  the  truth  with  all  firmness  and 
faithfulness,  and  who,  being  absent,  wrote  to  you 
epistles,  by  which,  if  you  rightly  give  heed  to  them,  you 
will  be  built  up  in  the  faith."*  His  epistle,  written 
shortly  after  the  death  of  Ignatius,  gives  evidence  that 
he  had  already  attained  a  remarkable  maturity  in  the 
Christian  life.  It  is  especially  valuable  for  the  infor- 
mation it  contains  as  to  the  internal  condition  of  the 
Churches.  Polycarp  sets  himself  to  redress  some 
abuses  which  had  crept  in  at  Philippi ;  he  especially 
deprecates  the  love  of  money,  which  had  become  the 
cause  of  grave  disorders.  Like  his  master,  he  burns 
with  indignation  against  heresy,  and  upbraids  it  in 
words  which  call  to  mind  the  epistles  of  John.  He 
says:  "  He  who  wrests,  according  to  his  own  evil  heart, 
the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  saying  that  there  is  no 
resurrection  or  judgment,  is  the  firstborn  of  Satan. t 
I  pray  you  all  to  give  heed  to  the  word  of  righteousness, 
and  to  exercise  yourselves  in  all  patience,  as  has  been 
done,  not  only  by  those  whom  you  have  seen — Ignatius, 
Sozimus,  and  Rufus — but  by  many  others  who  have 
gone  forth  from  you,  as  well  as  by  Paul  and  the  other 
apostles."!  Polycarp  is  ever  a  faithful  follower  of 
tradition  ;  his  gaze  turns  by  preference  backwards.  A 
very    ancient    biography,  annexed    to    an    old    Latin 

*  "Ad  Philipp.,"  iii.    f  t  Ibid. 

%  'AgkeTv  irdaav  inrofxovrjv.       (Ibid.,  IX.) 


BOOK   II. — THE   FATHERS   OF  THE   CHURCH.       235 

manuscript  of  his  epistle,  speaks  of  him  as  the  first 
bishop  of  Asia.*  This  aspiring  epithet  gives  proof 
of  his  great  influence.  The  latter  part  of  his  life 
belongs  not  to  the  transition  era,  but  to  the  history 
of  the  second  century.  We  shall  have  occasion  to 
recur  to  it  presently.  It  is  enough  for  us  now  to 
remark  that  he  repaired  to  Rome  to  confer  with 
Anicetus  on  the  question  of  Easter,  and  that  he  there 
met  Marcion,  whom  he  treated  very  roughly.  He  was 
put  to  death  under  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  "  Acts 
of  his  Martyrdom  "  is  a  valuable  document  for  the 
history  of  the  persecutions  under  the  Antonines.t  If 
Polycarp  showed  less  impatience  for  death  than 
Ignatius,  he  was  no  less  courageous  when  the  hour 
of  suffering  came.  He  had  fled  into  the  country  to 
escape  his  pursuers,  and  was  betrayed,  under  stress 
of  torture,  by  a  young  man,  who  knew  of  his  hiding- 
place.  Aged  as  he  was,  his  spirit  never  for  a  moment 
faltered.  None  can  forget  his  reply  to  the  proconsul, 
who  urged  him  to  blaspheme  Christ  and  save  his  life. 
"  Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  Him,"  Polycarp 
answered,  "  and  He  has  done  me  no  wrong.  How  then 
shall  I  curse  my  King  and  my  Saviour  ?"J  The  follow- 
ing prayer,  of  which  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
genuineness,  is  said  to  be  his:  "Almighty  God,  the 
Father  of  Thy  well-beloved  Son  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom 
we  have  learned  to  know  Thee,  I  bless  Thee  that  Thou 
hast    counted    me    worthy,    in    this    day   and    in    this 

*  "  Totius  Asia?  princeps."  ("  Patrum  Apost.  Opera,"  Edit. 
Dressel,  "Prolegomena,"  34.) 

f  The  ''Acts  of  Polycarp's  Martyrdom"  arc  of  the  highest  an- 
tiquity. (Sec  Eusebius,  "  H.  E  ,"  IV.  xv.)  Irenaeus  ("  Adv.  Ha^res.," 
III.  iii.)  appears  to  be  acquainted  with  them.  The  legendary- 
character  of  the  close  suggests  an  interpolation. 

X  nd/t;  Svva/uxi  (3\a<T<pt]fjt.Ti<icu  tuv  j3aai\ta  /xou}tuv  utjcavra  fit.  ("  Acta 
Martyr.  Polyc,"  vii.) 


236  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

hour,  to  take  a  place  among  Thy  martyrs,  and  to  drink 
of  the  cup  of  Thy  Christ,  for  the  resurrection  unto 
eternal  life  of  my  soul  and  body.  May  I  be  accepted 
of  Thee  as  a  sacrifice  well-pleasing  in  Thy  sight.  I 
laud,  I  bless,  I  magnify  Thee  for  all  that  which  has 
befallen  me."* 

Two  other  apostolic  Fathers  form  part  of  this  group 
of  the  representatives  of  Paul's  teaching  :  Quadratus, 
Bishop  of  Athens,  and  Aristides  the  philosopher,  the 
two  first  apologists  of  Christianity.  They  belong  to 
the  transition  period,  for  Quadratus  says,  in  the  fragment 
of  his  "Apology"  which  has  come  down  to  us,  that  there 
were  still  in  his  day  some  miraculous  cures  wrought  by 
Jesus  Christ. t  All  we  know  of  these  two  writers  is, 
that  both  pleaded  the  cause  of  Christianity  with 
the  Emperor  Adrian.];  Aristides  evidently  belonged 
to  a  school  far  removed  from  Judaism,  since  he  ap- 
peals without  hesitation  to  the  testimony  of  the  Greek 
philosophers.  St.  Jerome  regards  the  "Apology"  of 
Quadratus  as  a  very  useful  book,  full  of  reason  and 
of  faith.  § 

§  II.  The  Fathers    of  the  Church  under  the  Antonines.\\ 

If  we  except  Polycarp,  who  belongs  rather  to  the 
age  of  the  apostolic  Fathers,  we  have  only  two  names 
to  quote  during  this  period.  Justin  Martyr  and  Irenaeus 
leave  far  behind  all  the  other  teachers  or  bishops  of  the 

*  "  Acta  Polyc,"  xiv.  f  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacras,"  I.  75. 

X  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xix. 

§  "  Librum  valide  utilem  plerumque  rationis  et  fidei."    (Ibid.) 

||  Works  to  be  consulted  are  :  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  IV.  xii.  xiii. 
xxi.-xxx.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustrious."  Anastasii,  "  Liber 
Pontificalis  "  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacras,"  I.  Lenain  de  Tillemont, 
"  Memoires,"  Vols.  III.,  IV.  Bcehringer,  "  Die  Kirche  Christiund 
iheZeugen,"Vol. I.   Miiller,  " Patrologie."  Herzog,  "Encyclopaedia." 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.       237 

age  of  the  Antonines.  The  most  important  episcopal  sees 
are  occupied  by  men  of  fervent  piety  and  firm  courage, 
but  of  only  average,  and  sometimes  narrow,  intellect. 
The  Church  of  Rome  had  in  succession,  at  its  head, 
Sixtus,  who  was  arrested  in  the  catacombs  ;  Tele- 
sphorus,  whose  martyrdom  produced  a  deep  sensation  ;* 
and  Anicetus,  distinguished  for  his  large  and  liberal 
views,  though  differing  from  Polycarp  on  some  secondary 
points.  Anicetus  never  ceased  to  show  a  respectful 
deference  to  him,  and  during  Polycarp's  sojourn  in 
Rome,  asked  him  to  preside,  instead  of  himself,  at  a 
consecration  of  elders. t  To  Anicetus  succeeded,  first, 
Soter,  whose  active  charity  J  is  known  to  us  through 
Dionysius  of  Corinth  ;  then  Eleuther  and  Victor,  the 
latter  of  whom  made  himself  prominent  by  his  despotic 
pretensions  in  the  question  of  Easter,  and  called  forth, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  succeeding  period,  a  lively  and 
legitimate  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  bishops  of  Asia 
Minor  and  Gaul. 

During  the  bishopric  of  Anicetus  there  arrived  in 
Rome  a  Christian  from  Palestine,  already  known  for 
his  piety,  who  had  undertaken  a  long  journey  to  inquire 
into  the  state  of  the  Churches.  He  was  named 
Hegesippus.  The  cast  of  his  mind  was  thoroughly 
Jewish  ;§  he  was  an  entire  stranger  to  the  speculative 

*  "Og  Kal  fa86£ti>£  IfiapTvprjfTtv.     (Euscbius,  "  H.  E.,"  V.  vi.) 

t  Ibid.,  VI.  xxiv. 

X  After  speaking  of  the  charity  of  the  Roman  Christians, 
Dionysius,  alluding  to  Soter,  adds:  "8 ov  fiovcrv  diaTtTtiprjKtv  b pcucapwg 
vputv  knifTKOTTog.  ("Your  blessed  Bishop  Soter  also  cherished  this 
charity.")     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  IV.  xxiii.) 

§  Hegesippus  made  many  translations  from  the  Hebrew. 
Eusebius  ('k  H.  E.,"  V.  xxii.)  infers  from  this  that  he  was  a  con- 
vert from  Judaism  to  Christianity;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that 
he  may  have  been  born  in  Palestine,  without  having  belonged  to 
the  synagogue. 


238  THE   EARLY  YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

genius  of  Greece,  and  paid  more  attention  to  facts  than 
to  ideas.  He  found  himself,  therefore,  much  at  home 
in  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  in  many  respects 
corresponded  to  the  Judaic  type.  Hegesippus  had  met, 
on  board  the  vessel  in  which  he  made  his  voyage, 
Primus,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  and  had  had  much  conver- 
sation with  him.*  At  his  invitation,  he  had  spent 
some  time  in  the  Church  of  Corinth,  and  had  rejoiced 
to  find  the  Christians  there  walking  in  all  things 
according  to  apostolic  tradition. t  To  him,  tradition 
was  a  thing  of  primary  importance ;  he  even  attached 
some  value  to  the  oral  tradition  of  the  Jews. J  He 
ignored  the  truth  that  in  Christianity,  even  more  than 
in  Judaism,  conformity  to  the  letter  by  no  means 
necessarily  implies  conformity  to  the  spirit.  Injustice, 
however,  has  been  done  to  Hegesippus,  when  he  has  been 
regarded  as  a  Judaising-Christian.  The  high  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held  in  Greece  and  Rome,  the  explicit 
adherence  he  gives  to  the  doctrine  which  predominated 
in  the  West,  negative  any  such  idea.  Hegesippus  had 
undoubtedly  a  mind  of  Jewish  order.  James,  of  whom 
he  has  drawn  a  striking  portrait, §  was  his  ideal,  rather 
than  St.  Paul ;  but  he  does  not  diverge  on  a  single 
point  from  the  orthodoxy  of  his  time ;  he  is,  indeed, 
only  too  much  in  accord  with  the  Western  Church  in 
the  extravagant  love  of  tradition.  His  first  concern 
at  Rome  was  to  draw  up  an  exact  list  of  the  bishops 
who  had  succeeded  each  other  in  the  government  of 


*  Svi/fyu'Sa  7r\(<x)v  slg  'Pw/kjjv.      (Eusebius,     "H.   E.,"   IV.    xxii.  ; 
Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacras,"  I.  217.) 

f   2,vvaveTrar)fj.tv  T(p  6pQu>  Xoyoj.       (Ibid.) 

X  "AWa     vi      <1)Q      i%      'Iovccukijq    uypa.(pov     7rapad6ctu)Q     /Jvqfiovtvti. 

(Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  IV.  xxii.) 

§  See  this  portrait.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,»  II.  xxii.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       239 

that  Church.*  His  memoirs  appear  to  have  been 
rather  a  polemical  treatise  against  the  heretics  than  a 
history,  properly  so  called,  of  the  first  ages  of  the 
Church. t  His  leaning  to  tradition  leads  him  to  give 
the  foremost  place  in  his  dissertations  to  the  exposi- 
tion of  facts. 

A  short  time  after  Hegesippus'  journey  to  Corinth, 
the  Church  of  that  city  was  governed  by  a  bishop  who 
exerted  a  very  wide  influence.  Dionysius  had  as  much 
eloquence  as  learning;!  by  his  activity  in  correspon- 
dence he  took  the  oversight  of  a  large  diocese,  sending 
his  counsels  throughout  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  and  Italy. 
"Not  content,"  says  Eusebius,  "with  the  labours  of 
his  diocese,  he  generously  extended  his  benefits  to  the 
other  Churches. "§  Dionysius  was  a  true  member 
of  the  Church  universal,  a  representative  of  real  Catho- 
licity. Such  largeness  of  heart  and  breadth  of  charity 
were  becoming  more  and  more  rare,  while  hierarchical 
lines  of  division  were  fast  multiplying.  Dionysius  of 
Corinth  was  not  a  man  of  great  intellect ;  his  letters 
indicate  a  certain  amount  of  credulity.     For  example, 

*  rtvofitvoQ  ce  tv  'Putfiy  CLaSox*)v  ittoui<jci}.uv  ^XP^  ' Avix>)tov. 
(Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  II.  xxii.)  See  in  Routh,  "Reliq.  Sacrae,"  I. 
270,  the  note  on  these  words. 

t  Jerome  has  represented  the  writings  of  Hegesippus  too  much 
as  a  consecutive  history,  when  he  says  :  "  Omncs  a  passione 
Domini  usque  ad  suam  setatem  ecclesiasticarum  actuam  texeus 
historias."  1"  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xxii.)  Eusebius  only  says  that 
Hegesippus  has  presented  in  the  simplest  manner  apostolic 
teaching  :  Tijp  fackavri  vrapadociv  tov  uttogtoXikou  Krjpvyfxaro^.  (Euse- 
bius, "H.  E.,"  IV.  xxii. 1 

I  "  Dionysius  Corinthiorum  ecclesia?  episcopus  tantas  eloquential 
et  industrial  fuit  ut  non  solum  civitates  et  provincial  populis  sed 
et  aliarum  urbium  et  provinciarum  epistolis  erudiret."  (Jerome, 
"De  Yiris  Illustr..''  xwii.i 

§  'Qg  rijg  tvtitov  <pi\o7roviaQ  ov  \16vov  roig  vtt  avrov  d\X'  yci)  kcii  to7q 
eiri  rije dXkooairqs  a<f>96vo>c eKOivJjvti.  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  IV.  xxiii.) 
The  list  of  his  letters  is  given  in  Eusebius. 


240  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

he  accepts  without  examination  an  absurd  legend 
current  in  Corinth,  according  to  which  that  Church 
owed  its  foundation  to  the  united  efforts  of  Peter  and 
Paul.*  He  exhibits  no  great  learning  nor  force  of 
argument,  but  all  the  fragments  of  his  writings  which 
remain,  are  full  of  benevolence ;  they  breathe  the 
spirit  of  primitive  times,  the  spirit  of  living  Christian 
unity.  This  atones  for  many  errors.  Dionysius  of 
Corinth  pleads  that  a  helping  hand  be  held  out  to 
Christians  who  have  fallen  and  are  repentant  ;  he  wisely 
counsels  Pinytus,-  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  Pontus,  who 
seems  to  have  been  an  ardent  follower  after  imaginary 
perfection,  not  to  push  the  practice  of  asceticism  to 
extremes,  because  of  the  weakness  of  the  flesh. t 

At  the  same  time,  Athenagoras  the  apologist  was 
living  in  Athens.  In  Asia  Minor  we  find  several  influ- 
ential bishops,  almost  all  engaged  in  the  conflict  with 
heresy,  and  in  the  determination  of  the  date  of  the 
Easter  festival.  First  among  these  is  Apollinaris, 
Bishop  of  Hieropolis,  who  is  already  known  to  us  by  his 
Apology,  and  who  endeavours  to  crush  the  nascent  heresy 
of  Montanus.J  He  wrote  two  books  against  the  Jews, 
and  a  treatise  on  the  Easter  festival.  He  was  a  man 
of  strong  and  cultivated  mind,  and  pleaded  the  cause  of 
the  Church  with  wisdom  and  dignity.  Theodoret  said 
of  him  subsequently,  that  he  was  versed  in  all  sacred 
and  profane  literature. §    Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch, 

*  Eusebius,  "H.  E.  *  II.  xxv. 

t  Mfl  (5apv  (pbpriov  rolg  ade\<poh  liririQkvai.  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.," 
IV.  xxiii.)  Pinytus  expresses  the  desire,  in  his  reply  to  Dionysius, 
that  the  latter  would  not  content  himself  with  offering  the  milk  of 
children  to  the  Christian  people,  but  would  give  them  also  the 
strong  meat.     It  is  easy  to  understand  his  meaning. 

I  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xxiv.  ;  Eusebius,  "H.  E.," 
IV.  xxvii. 

§  Theodoret,  "  Heretic  Fabul.  Compend.,"  III.  ii. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   24I 

displayed  a  zeal  equal  to  that  of  Apollinaris,  in  the 
polemics  against  heresy,  and  in  the  defence  of  Chris- 
tianity. His  book  "  To  Antolicus  "  is  a  philosophical 
apology  for  the  new  religion,  too  deeply  tinged  with 
Platonism.  He  wrote  a  treatise  against  Marcion.  He 
is  also  known  by  his  commentaries  upon  Scripture.* 
Serapion,  who  presided  after  him  over  the  Church 
of  Antioch,  was  distinguished  in  the  controversy  against 
Montanism.t  We  may  mention  also  Philip,  Bishop  of 
Crete,  who,  as  well  as  Modestus,  engaged  in  controversy 
with  Marcion  ;  Rhodo,  at  first  a  disciple  of  Tatian, 
afterwards  an  opponent  of  Gnosticism ;  Musanus, 
known  for  his  refutation  of  the  heresy  of  the  Encratites; 
Apollonius,  whose  writings  against  the  Montanists 
were  afterwards  refuted  by  Tertullian.^  The  most 
eminent  bishop  of  Asia  Minor  at  this  period  was 
Melito  of  Sardis,  apologist  and  theologian.  St.  Jerome 
extols  his  eloquence. §  He  took  part  in  all  the 
controversies,  and  treated  of  all  the  great  questions 
of  his  day.  He  defended  Christianity  against  the 
calumnies  of  the  people  and  the  sophistries  of  the 
philosophers ;  in  opposition  to  Marcion,  he  established 
the  dogma  of  the  Incarnation,  and  maintained  the 
oriental  practice  in  the  celebration  of  Easter.  To 
judge  by  the  title  of  one  of  his  works,  "  The  Key,"  he 
appears  to  have  lent  the  force  of  his  example  to  the  sym- 
bolical exegesis,  for  which  Christian  antiquity  had  so 
decided  a  taste.  But  his  especial  study  was  prophecy. 
Not  satisfied  with  making  known  the  life  01  the  great 
prophets,  he  also  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  Revela- 
tion, full  of  ardent  anticipation  of  the  return  of  Jesus 

*  Euscbius,     "  H.    E.,"     IV.    xxiv.  ;     St.    Jerome,    "  De    Viris 
Illustr.,"  xxv.  f  Ibid.,  xlvii. 

I   Ibid.,  xxx.  xxxi.  xxxii.  xxxvii.  xl. 
§  "Hujus  elegans  et  declamatorium  ingenium."     (Ibid.,  xxiii.) 


2.j2  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Christ.*  Melito  carried  a  generous  enthusiasm  into 
all  he  said  and  did.  Thus,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
undertake  a  long  journey  in  Palestine  to  acquire  in- 
formation as  to  the  canonicity  of  the  Old  Testament. 
He  was  an  extreme  ascetic,  and  Polycarp  called  him 
the  Eunuch  Melito,  alluding  no  doubt  to  those  who,  the 
Gospel  says,  have  made  themselves  eunuchs  for  the 
kingdom  of  God's  sake.t  "  He  did  all,"  says  Polycarp 
again,  "  under  the  guidance  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and 
the  Church  recognised  in  him  a  true  prophet. "J  We 
can  well  understand  the  lively  admiration  felt  by  the 
Church  for  a  bishop  who  had  defended  it  against  both 
paganism  and  heresy,  and  who,  without  deviating  from 
•the  straight  road  of  orthodoxy,  yet  gratified  the  favourite 
tendencies  of  the  Church,  by  the  ascetic  severity  of  his 
life,  the  subtlety  of  his  symbolism,  and  the  oriental 
tone  of  his  prophetic  teachings. 

The  Church  of  Asia  had  also  at  this  period  a  bishop 
of  great  eminence.  This  was  Polycrates  of  Ephesus, 
who  wrote  at  the  close  of  the  second  century  a  powerful 
letter  to  Victor,  in  which  he  conveys  the  positive 
decision   arrived    at   by   the   bishops   of    Asia    Minor, 

*  The  list  of  his  various  works  (St.  Jerome,  "De  Viris  Illustr.." 
xxv.,  and  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  V.  xxiv.)  shows  the  variety  of  his 
studies.  Beside  his  "  Apology,"  he  is  known  as  the  author  of  the 
following  books  :  "  A  Treatise  upon  Easter,"  "  De  Sensibus,"  "  De 
die  Dominica,"  "  De  Fide,"  "  De  Plasmate,"  "  De  Anima  et 
Corpere,"  "  De  Baptismo,"  "  De  Veritate,"  "  De  Generatione 
Christi,"  "  De  Ecclesia,"  "  De  Philoxenia,"  "  De  Vita  Pro- 
phetarum,"  "  De  Prophetia,"  "  De  Apocalypse,"  "  Clavis."  The 
reproduction  which  the  "  Spicilegium  Solemnense"  pretends  to  give 
of  this  last  work  ^ols.  III.  and  IV.)  has  no  character  of  authen- 
ticity. It  is  an  apocryphal  compilation.  The  fragments  of  the 
writings  of  Melito  are  collected  in  Routh,  "Reliq.  Sacras,"  I.  119. 

t  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  V.  xxiv. 

X  Tov  iv  ayui)  Tcvtvjxari  iruvra  7ro\iT(v<rafX£vov.  (Ibid.)  "  Tcrtlll- 
lianus  dicit  eum  a  plerisque  nostrorum  prophetam  putari."  \St. 
Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr."  xxiv.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        243 

assembled  at  Caesarea,  to  adhere  to  the  oriental  practice 
in  the  observance  of  Easter.* 

We  have  already  spoken  of  Justin  Martyr  as  the 
firm  and  eloquent  advocate  of  Christianity  with  the  em- 
perors, t  Let  us  now  endeavour  to  sketch  the  features 
of  his  moral  character  as  manifested  in  his  life. 

Justin  was  born,  in  the  year  103,  at  Nicopolis,  of  a 
pagan  family,  which  had  probably  emigrated  from  Greece 
into  Samaria,  at  the  commencement  of  the  second 
century.  He  was  thus  placed  from  his  cradle  midway 
between  Judaism  and  Paganism,  both  of  which  he  was 
in  turn  victoriously  to  combat.  He  seems  to  have 
possessed  some  private  fortune,  which  enabled  him  to  un- 
dertake numerous  journeys.  He  was  completely  the  man 
of  his  age,  familiar  with  all  its  troubles  and  sufferings, 
though  escaping  its  corruption.  He  represented  its  best 
aspirations,  free  from  the  impure  admixture  which  else- 
where stifled  or  alloyed  them.  The  dreary  void  left  in 
the  world  by  the  dethroned  gods,  whose  place  was  still 
unfilled;  the  restless  disquiet  of  heart,  the  craving  after 
truth,  while  truth  seemed  to  flee  before  the  seeker  like  the 
mirage  of  the  desert  sand, — all  these  characteristic  traits 
of  the  crisis  of  the  age  were  founil  in  this  young  orien- 
tal Greek,  whose  earnest,  impassioned  soul  proudly 
rejected  the  base  allurements  of  a  brilliant  and  corrupt 
state  of  society,  the  luxury  of  which  was  equalled  by  its 
licentiousness.  He  was  as  much  a  stranger  to  vulgar 
ambition  as  to  sensual  gratifications.  No  frequenter 
of  the   Forum,   of  camps  or  of  palaces,  he  had  early 

*  St.  Jerome,  "DeViris  Illustr.,"  xlv. ;  Eusebius,  "H.  E./'V.xxii. 

f  See  Eusebius  on  Justin  ("  H.  E  ,"  IV.  xvi  ;  St.  Jerome,  "  De 
Viris  Illustr.."  xxiii.)  The  details  of  his  conversion  are  contained 
in  the  Introduction  to  his  "Dial,  cum  Trvph."  In  addition  to 
the  Church  historians  already  mentioned,  we  shall  quote  Semisch's 
"Monograph,"  1S50. 


244  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

assumed  the  mantle  of  the  philosopher,  and  set  before 
him  as  his  aim,  the  acquisition  of  truth.  This  he  was 
resolved  to  seek  till  he  should  find,  and  if  need  be  to 
travel  over  the  whole  world  in  his  search.  In  this  age 
of  universal  eclecticism,  all  the  old  schools  had  their 
representatives,  and  it  was  possible  in  a  few  years 
to  pursue  the  whole  course  marked  out  by  centuries 
of  human  thought.  Justin  pursued  unwearyingly  this 
toilsome  pilgrimage,  which,  apart  from  the  Gospel,  led 
to  neither  resting-place  nor  goal.  He  has  described 
with  eloquent  simplicity  this  troubled  period  of  his  life, 
in  which  each  new  effort  ended  only  in  deeper  disappoint- 
ment. His  first  halting-place  was  the  Stoical  school, 
which  by  its  austerity  was  wont  to  attract  to  itself  lofty 
and  noble  spirits ;  but  had  he  become  a  full  disciple 
of  this  school,  he  must  have  renounced  the  great 
problems  of  philosophy,  which"  were  forbidden  to  its 
alumni  as  a  puerile  amusement.  Beneath  this  proud  pre- 
tension there  lurked,  in  truth,  an  unworthy  surrender 
of  the  powers  of  thought.  The  young  Greek,  whose  soul 
was  burning  to  comprehend  the  deep  things  of  metaphy- 
sics, soon  turned  away  from  these  masters,  who  hid 
their  impotence  under  a  veil  of  scorn,  and  turned  to  the 
Peripatetics.  In  the  teacher  to  whom  he  thus  addressed 
himself,  however,  he  found  one  who  sought  lucre  rather 
than  true  learning,  and  professed  philosophy  for  the  sake 
of  the  honorarium  it  brought.  Nothing  could  be  more 
irritating  than  such  a  discovery  to  a  mind  like  Justin's, 
seeking  the  pure  ideal,  and  he  broke  away  at  once 
from  the  Peripatetics.  At  this  period  the  ancient 
Pythagorean  school  was  in  great  repute,-  owing  to  its 
oriental  mysticism,  which  harmonised  with  the  then 
predominant  current  of  thought.  Justin  came  up  to  this 
door  and  knocked ;  but  while  Plato  had  been  content 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       245 

with  inscribing  over  the  portal  of  his  school,  "  None  but 
a  geometrician  may  enter  here,"  the  Pythagorean  de- 
manded, as  the  condition  of  entrance,  not  only  a  perfect 
acquaintance  with  geometry,  but  also  with  music  and  as- 
tronomy. Justin  Martyr  was  not  a  man  of  simply  curious 
mind,  he  had  a  soul  hungering  and  thirsting  after  light 
and  truth.  Such  an  initiation  as  was  thus  demanded, 
would  have  required  a  lifetime  of  labour ;  and  a  know- 
ledge of  the  stars  and  of  musical  measures  seemed  to 
him  of  secondary  importance,  compared  with  that  which 
he  longed  to  know.  To  gain  it  would  be  to  spend  life 
in  the  porch  of  the  Temple,  without  ever  entering  the 
holy  place.  In  following  next  the  steps  of  the  Platonist 
school,  Justin  thought  that  he  had  at  length  crossed 
the  sacred  threshold.  He  was  entranced  with  the 
contemplation  of  the  ideal  world  presented  to  him  ; 
he  seemed  to  have  found  wings  with  which  to  soar  above 
himself.  But  this  ideal  world  was  a  cold  region  of  pure 
intellect,  whose  pallid  gleam,  struggling  with  shadows, 
could  not  warm  the  heart  or  change  the  life.  Once 
again  Justin  turned  away  baffled.  He  had  already  some 
vague  notions  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  He  tells 
us  in  his  second  "Apology"  of  the  deep  impression 
produced  upon  him  by  the  sight  of  the  martyrs.  He 
says:  "At  the  time  when  I  was  delighting  in  the 
doctrines  of  Plato,  and  even  while  I  was  listening  to  the 
calumnies  cast  upon  the  Christians,  I  said  to  myself, 
as  I  saw  them  so  dauntless  in  death  and  in  the  midst 
of  perils  which  the  world  esteems  so  terrible,  that  it 
was  impossible  they  should  be  men  living  in  lust  and 
crime."*  This  heart-stirring  spectacle  had  prepared 
him  to  receive  the  call  of  God. 

*  'OpoJr    a<p6(SoVQ    irpbc  Oavarov  Ivivoovv  advvarov  ilvai  Iv  koki'p   Kai 
<pi\)]dovi^     (Justin,  "  Opera,"  50.) 


246  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Seeking  solitude,  that  he  might  meditate  with  a  mind 
more  disengaged  from  outward  things,  he  was  walking 
one  day  by  the  side  of  a  lake  in  his  own  country,  when 
he  met  an  aged  man,  whose  countenance  was  full  of 
gravity  and  sweetness.  He  looked  like  a  philosopher, 
but  one  who  had  found  peace  in  his  philosophy.  They 
entered  naturally  into  conversation.  The  old  man  could 
read  in  Justin's  face  the  feeling  with  which  his  heart 
was  filled — the  unslaked  thirst  after  truth.  He  skilfully 
touched  the  vulnerable  point,  by  showing  the  young  man 
that  his  philosophy  had  no  influence  on  his  moral  life, 
and  still  left  him  a  prey  to  the  most  agonising  un- 
certainty on  the  gravest  problems.  "  Where,  then," 
exclaimed  Justin,  "is  the  truth  to  be  found,  if  not  among 
the  philosophers  ?  "  "  Long  before  the  philosophers," 
the  old  man  replied,  "there  lived  in  the  olden  times 
happy  and  righteous  men,  the  friends  of  God ;  they 
spoke  by  His  Spirit;  they  were  called  prophets;  they 
told  to  men  that  which  they  had  heard  and  learned 
from  the  Holy  Spirit ;  they  worshipped  God,  the 
Creator  and  Father  of  all  creatures ;  they  adored 
His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Ask  thou  that  the  gates  of 
light  may  be  opened  to  thee  now."*  This  had  been 
Justin's  one  desire  from  his  youth  up;  the  old  man  had 
shown  him  in  what  direction  to  look  for  the  opening 
ot  those  gates  of  light.  Having  listened  to  the  philo- 
sophers, he  now  turns  to  the  prophets  and  to  Him 
who  is  as  far  above  the  greatest  of  the  prophets,  as 
the  heaven  is  above  the  earth — the  Eternal  Word,  of 
whom  he  will  be  henceforward  the  full  and  faithiul 
witness. 

The  conversion  of  Justin  was  the  consummation 
01   a   long  inward   struggle.     He  did  not  leel  himseh 

#  Justin,  "  Opera,"  225. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       247 

bound  as  a  Christian,  to  overturn  the  ladder  by  which 
he  had  painfully  climbed  to  the  footstool  of  the  truth. 
He  always  regarded  Platonism  as  a  preparation  of  the 
heathen  world  for  Christianity,  and  he  read  the  history 
of  humanity  in  the  light  of  his  own  personal  experience. 
He  knew  that  before  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
true,  living  Christ,  through  the  medium  of  revelation, 
he  had  been  led  to  yearn  after  Him  by  his  studies 
in  philosophy,  and  yet  more  by  the  deepest  needs  of  his 
own  heart  and  mind.  The  Word  did  not  come  like 
a  stranger  to  him ;  a  dim  prophetic  dawn  had  filled  his 
soul,  before  the  sun  shone  forth  upon  him  in  its  strength 
and  the  fulness  of  the  noontide  light  did  not  make  him 
despise  the  early  glimmerings  of  the  day.  Persuaded 
that  the  same  aspirations  might  lead  to  the  same  results 
in  others,  he  was  ever  anxious  to  appeal  to  these  secret 
yearnings, to  this  latent  fragmentary  form  of  Christianity, 
which  needed  only  the  completion  which  the  Gospel 
brought,  in  order  to  lead  his  contemporaries  to  the  foot 
of  the  Cross.  Justin,  as  a  Christian,  did  not  therefore 
cease  to  respect  philosophy,  and  in  order  to  make 
it  patent  to  all  that  in  becoming  a  disciple  of  Jesus 
Christ,  he  had  not  abandoned  the  quest  and  love 
of  wisdom,  but  on  the  contrary  had  had  revealed  to  him 
the  highest  wisdom,  he  still  wore  the  mantle  of  the 
philosopher.  He  did  so  from  no  desire  to  escape  the 
honourable  reproach  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ. 
"I  have  cast  aside,"  he  says,  "all  the  vain  desires 
of  men,  I  glory  now  only  in  being  a  Christian,  and  there 
is  nothing  I  so  much  desire  as  to  appear  as  a  Christian 
in  the  face  of  the  world."*  Henceforward,  the  entire 
life  of  Justin  will  be  one  ardent  apostolate  ;  a  lay  apos- 
tolate  indeed,  resting  on  no  other  authority  than  that 

*   Xpianavur  ti'fJiOfjvai  Kai  i.v\i>nivoQ.      (~ 


248  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

conferred  by  his  own  zeal  and  fervent  convictions, 
but  none  the  less  real.*  His  long  and  earnest 
pursuit  of  truth  made  him  esteem  it  at  its  true  value  ; 
he  had  experienced  all  the  mental  struggles  of  his 
contemporaries,  and  thus  knowing  at  once  the  sick- 
ness and  the  remedy,  he  was  admirably  prepared 
to  be  an  effective  missionary — one  of  those  true  com- 
forters, who  have  learned  by  their  own  experience 
of  suffering  how  to  solace  others.  He  never  lost 
for  a  single  day  the  sense  of  the  deep  responsibility 
resting  on  the  witness  of  the  truth.  He  felt  this 
equally  in  regard  to  Jews,  pagans,  and  heretics.  While 
acknowledging  that  nothing  was  more  difficult  to 
overcome  than  the  obstinacy  of  the  adherents  of  the 
synagogue,  he  thus  addressed  them:  "I  know  that, 
as  the  Word  of  God  has  said,  this  great  wisdom  is 
hidden  from  your  eyes.  It  is  in  compassion  for  you 
that  I  feel  constrained,  cost  me  what  it  may,  to  plead  with 
you  to  believe  these  Divine  paradoxes,  that  I  may  at  least 
be  found  guiltless  in  the  day  of  judgment. "t  "  The 
fear  of  the  judgment  of  God,"  he  says  again,  "  makes 
me  not  cease  to  confer  with  the  men  of  your  nation,  to 
see  if  I  may  not  find  some  one  among  you,  who  may 
be  saved  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord  of  hosts. "J  "  I 
must  tell  you,  without  flattery  or  disguise,  all  that 
I  think.  Has  not  the  Lord  said,  '  The  sower  went 
forth  to  sow  '  ?  I  must  needs  speak  in  the  hope  that 
some  word  may  fall  like  seed  into  good  ground; §  for 
the  Lord,  when  He  comes  again  in  power  and  great 
glory,  will   call  every  one   to  account  for  that  which 

*  Lenain  de  Tillemont  ("  Memoires,"  Vol.  II.  p.  389)  assumes, 
without  any  sort  of  reason,  that  Justin  was  a  priest  of  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

t  2,vf.i7ra9u>v  vfuv.     (Justin,  "Opera,"  256.)  %  Ibid.,  249. 

§  'EX.7ntfi  ovv  tov  ilvai  irov  kclKi)v  yrjv,  Xkyeiv  Su.       (Ibid.,  3^4.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   249 

he  has  received."*  Justin  declared  again  and  again 
in  his  "Apology"  that  he  should  hold  himself  guilty  of 
the  ignorance  of  the  pagans,  if  he  did  not  do  all  in  his 
power  to  dispel  it.  He  felt  an  equal  responsibility 
with  regard  to  the  heretics.  "  Hence  it  is,"  he  says, 
"that  we  seek  every  opportunity  to  confer  with 
you."  He  epitomises  all  that  he  feels  on  this  subject 
in  this  noble  utterance  :  "  Every  man  who  can  bear 
witness  to  the  truth,  and  does  it  not,  will  be  judged 
of  God."t 

Faithful  to  his  convictions,  Justin  never  for  a  day 
relaxed  his  efforts  to  spread  the  faith.  We  have  seen 
with  how  much  dignity  in  his  twro  Apologies  he  defends 
the  Church  before  the  emperors.  Not  content  with  this 
public  and  striking  testimony,  he  has  repeated  confer- 
ences with  the  Jews  and  pagans  wherever  he  meets 
them,  and  as  the  time  for  pronouncing  summary  anathe- 
mas has  not  yet  come,  he  employs  the  same  means  with 
the  heretics.  In  these  discussions  he  exhibits  great 
patience  and  firmness;  it  is  evident  that  he  is  always 
actuated  by  the  purest  motives.  He  appears  to  have 
travelled  much.  We  find  him  at  Ephesus,  where  his 
famous  interview  with  the  Jew  Trypho  took  place,  the 
memory  of  which  he  has  preserved  to  us  in  writing. 
Again  we  see  him  at  Rome,  opposing  a  false  philosopher 
named  Crescens,  connected  with  the  sect  of  the  Cynics. 
Such  courageous  fidelity  deserved  to  be  owned  and 
recompensed  ;  this  apostolic  man  was  to  wear  the 
crown  of  an  apostle.  Already,  in  his  second  Apology, 
Justin  Martyr  expresses  his  foreboding  of  his  approach- 
ing end.     "I   expect,"  he  says,    "to   be   taken  in  the 

*  Justin,  "Opera,"  51-56. 

f  EiSoreQ  lln  7rur  6  cvva/jitvog  Xeyttv  to  akr}0ic  ko.1  fxi)  \sywv  KpiQijaerai 
i7r6  tov  6tov.     (Ibid.,  308. ) 

17 


250  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

toils  of  these  false  philosophers,  and  to  suffer  a  death  of 
ignominy,  perhaps  at  the  instigation  of  Crescens,  who 
better  deserves  to  be  called  the  friend  of  fame  and 
of  luxury,  than  the  friend  of  wisdom.  He  publicly 
charges  the  Christians  with  atheism  and  impiety,  and 
that  without  any  evidence,  and  merely  to  gratify  the 
prejudices  of  the  people."*  Justin  tells  us  that  he  had 
in  public  closed  Crescens'  mouth.  The  latter,  in  his 
anger,  sought  to  avenge  himself  as  a  man  of  such  a 
disposition  and  of  such  a  school  would  naturally  do  ; 
and  it  was  probably  on  his  denunciation  that  Justin 
was  thrown  into  prison.  He  appeared  with  some  fellow 
Christians  before  the  tribunal  of  the  prefect  of  the  city. 
Strangely  enough,  this  magistrate  was  a  philosopher  of 
the  Stoics — Rusticus,  one  of  the  instructors  of  Marcus 
Aurelius.  The  two  doctrines  were  brought  face  to  face, 
the  one  seated  on  the  judgment-seat,  the  other  at  the 
bar.  The  unworthy  spirit  manifested  by  the  pagan 
philosophers  under  such  circumstances,  is  peculiarly 
marked  in  the  case  of  Justin.  He  was,  as  he  had 
always  been,  dignified  and  firm,  without  bravado.  He 
plainly  confessed  the  great  philosophy  of  Christ,  in 
which,  after  such  long  and  weary  seeking,  he  had  found 
rest  at  last.  When  asked  to  define  this  philosophy,  he 
expressed,  in  a  few  forcible  words,  his  faith  in  the  God 
of  heaven  and  earth,  and  in  His  Son,  "the  Master  of 
truth,"  adding  humbly,  "that  he  was  too  unworthy 
to  say  anything  worthy  of  Him."  The  prefect,  inter- 
spersing his  interrogatory  with  jocose  raillery,  asked 
Justin  if  he  supposed  he  would  ascend  into  heaven  when 
his  head  was  cut  off.  "I  know  it,"  he  said;  "yes, 
beyond  all  power  to  doubt,  I  know  it."     When  he  was 

*   K^'yw  ovv  irpooSoKu)  iirijSovXtvQrivai   kcli    ZvXy  tinrayrjvai.      (Justin, 
"  Opera,"  46.) 


BOOK   II.  — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       251 

urged  to  offer  sacrifice,  he  replied,  "  Our  great  desire 
is  to  suffer  for  Christ  ;  for  that  will  give  us  confidence 
before  His  awful  judgment-seat,  at  the  bar  of  which  the 
whole  world  will  have  to  stand."  The  sentence  was 
pronounced  and  executed  the  same  day.*  Thus  died 
Justin,  rightly  surnamed  by  the  ancient  Church,  "Justin 
the  Martyr;"  for  the  truth  never  had  a  witness  more 
disinterested,  more  courageous,  more  worthy  of  the 
hatred  of  a  godless  age  and  of  the  approval  of  Heaven. 
The  largeness  of  his  heart  and  mind  equalled  the  fer- 
vour of  his  zeal,  and  both  were  based  on  his  Christian 
charity.  Justin  derived  all  his  eloquence  from  his 
heart ;  his  natural  genius  was  not  of  rare  order,  but  the 
experiences  of  his  early  life,  illumined  by  revelation, 
became  the  source  of  much  fruitful  suggestion  for  him- 
self, and  gave  to  the  Church  a  heritage  of  thought, 
which,  ripened  and  developed  at  Alexandria,  was  to 
become  the  basis  of  the  great  apology  of  Christianity. 
If  we  except  the  beautiful  doctrine  of  the  Word  germ- 
inally  present  in  every  man,  there  was  little  originality  in 
Justin's  theological  ideas.  In  exegesis  he  is  subtle, 
and  sometimes  puerile ;  in  argument  he  flags,  but 
where  his  heart  speaks,  he  stands  forth  in  all  his  moral 
greatness,  and  his  earnest,  generous  words,  are  ever 
quick  and  telling.  Had  he  remained  a  pagan  he  would 
have  lived  unnoted  in  erudite  mediocrity.  Christianity 
fired  and  fertilised  his  genius,  and  it  is  the  glowing 
soul  which  we  chiefly  love  to  trace  in  all  his  writings. t 

*  Ruinart,  "Acta  Martyrum  Sincera."  The  details  of  the 
narrative  correspond  with  all  that  is  known  of  Justin. 

t  Many  authentic  writings  of  Justin's  have  been  lost.  We  cite  the 
following-  1st,  his  book  "On all  Heresies  ;''  2nd,  "On  Marcion"  (Ire- 
naeus,"ContraHaeres.,"IV.xiv.);  3rd,"HfjoJ  ipvxnc;"  4th, "A  Sermon  to 
the  Greeks, 'and  a  book, the  subject  of  which  is  unintelligible,  entitled 
"  Yakrris  "  iKusebius  "  H.  E.,"  III.  xviii.)  The  authentic  writings 
which  have  been  preserved,  are  :    1st,  the  two  "Apologies  ;"  2nd, 


252  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

While  Justin  Martyr  represented  the  speculative 
tendencies  of  the  Eastern  Church  in  their  period  of 
formation,  Irenasus  occupies  an  intermediate  position 
between  the  East  and  West,  and  in  a  manner  unites  the 
two.  Born  in  Asia  Minor  in  the  year  140,  he  passed 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Central  Gaul.  He  writes 
in  Greek,  and  thinks  often  like  a  Roman.  Essentially 
moderate  in  his  mode  of  thought,  he  tones  down,  so  as 
to  conciliate  them,  tendencies  which  seemed  directly 
opposed.  An  earnest  apostle  of  ecclesiastical  unity,  he 
laboured  effectually  to  realise  his  idea,  by  drawingtogether 
lines  which  had  hitherto  seemed  divergent,  and  fusing  as 
it  were  into  one  comprehensive  system  of  doctrine,  all 
the  main  elements  of  the  Christian  thought  of  his  day. 
Hence  the  large  influence  wrhich  he  exercised  during 
his  life,  and  which  only  went  on  increasing  after  his 
death.  Irenaeus  was  equally  removed  from  the  specu- 
lative boldness  of  many  of  the  Fathers  of  the  following 
age,  and  from  the  narrow7  and  passionate  realism  of 
Tertullian.  He  was  peculiarly  distinguished  by  the 
harmony  and  equilibrium  of  his  spirit.  Such  as  he  was 
as  a  theologian  he  was  also  as  a  bishop,  and  he  showed 
as  much  moderation  and  wisdom  in  the  direction  of  souls 
as  in  the  discussion  of  doctrines.  His  calm  and  gentle 
piety  is  reflected  in  his  writings.  All  these  qualities, 
illuminated  and  idealised  in  the  memory  of  the  Church 

"  The  Dialogue  with  Grappho."  The  "  Letter  to  Diognetes  "  and  the 
"Aoyog  irpoq  'EXX^vag,"  have  been  falsely  attributed  to  him.  The  fun- 
damental ideas  and  the  style  of  these  works  are  unlike  those  of 
Justin.  Cureton  has  discovered  the  name  of  the  author  of  the 
Aoyog.  The  Aoyoc  irapaivtriKOQ  is  in  flagrant  contradiction  with 
Justin's  views  as  to  the  preparatory  purpose  fulfilled  by  the  ancient 
systems  of  philosophy.  The  treatise  "  On  the  Resurrection  "  is 
equally  wanting  in  authenticity  ;  the  style  has  a  correctness  and 
rhetorical  effect  unlike  Justin.  Finally,  the  treatise  on  "The  Unity 
of  God  "  is  a  mere  compilation  from  heathen  authors. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       253 

by  a  glorious  death,  assured  to  Irenaeus  an  influence 
exceptionally  broad  and  lasting.  He  was  unanimously 
considered  to  be  the  greatest  bishop  of  the  second 
century,  and  the  representative  of  the  catholicity  of 
the  day.  He  contributed  to  strengthen  the  hierar- 
chical system  by  his  love  of  order  and  of  tradition,  but 
the  best  service  he  rendered  it  was  in  constraining  it 
to  moderate  its  premature  pretensions. 

Irenaeus  passed  his  youth  in  Asia  Minor,  at  a  time 
when  the  memory  of  the  apostolic  age  was  still  vivid. 
His  master  was  Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  St.  John,  and 
their  intercourse,  as  he  himself  tells  us  in  a  passage 
we  have  already  quoted,*  left  a  deep  impression  upon 
Irenaeus.  He  was  never  weary  of  listening  to  the  words 
of  the  beloved  disciple,  as  they  were  recalled  by  the 
pious  Bishop  of  Smyrna.  We  find  also,  from  various 
allusions  in  his  book,  "  Contra  Haeres.,"  that  he  was 
brought  into  contact  with  several  men  of  the  generation 
which  had  seen  and  listened  to  the  apostles.  Thus, 
treading  a  soil  watered  and  fertilised  by  the  tears  and 
travail  of  the  first  witnesses  of  the  truth,  living  in  the 
midst  of  the  Churches  founded  by  them,  close  to  the 
very  cradle  of  Christianity,  listening  to  the  narratives 
of  Polycarp  with  the  glowing  imagination  of  youth  and 
the  tender  emotion  of  a  loving  heart,  the  glorious  past 
became  to  the  young  Irenaeus  a  living  reality,  which  he 
beheld  through  the  medium  of  his  own  impressions.  A 
man  thus  filled  with  a  great  enthusiasm  could  not  be 
a  critic  ;  he  became  the  eager  recipient  of  all  tradition. 
Thus,  while  he  merits  the  highest  confidence  as  a 
disciple  of  Polycarp,  it  must  be  admitted  that  on  minor 
points,  he  is  sometimes  the  echo  of  a  tradition  already 
more  or  less  legendary.  But  the  most  important  result 
*  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  V.  xx. 


254  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

of  these  days,  passed  under  such  happy  auspices  in 
Smyrna,  was  an  exaggerated  estimate  formed  in  the  mind 
of  Irenaeus,  of  oral  tradition,  to  which  he  was  disposed 
to  attach  sovereign  authority  in  the  Church.  He  raised 
to  the  height  of  a  universal  rule  the  favoured  experiences 
of  his  own  youth,  forgetting  that  Christians  would  not 
always  be  able  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  a  disciple  of  John, 
and  that  as  the  distance  widened  between  the  stream  of 
tradition  and  its  source,  its  waters  would  become  less 
and  less  pure.  It  is  evident  from  the  writings  of 
Irenaeus  that  he  did  not  confine  himself  to  gathering 
up  the  memories  of  the  Church,  but  that  he  also  studied 
carefully  the  old  pagan  literature.  For  such  studies 
he  was  very  favourably  placed,  for  the  higher  culture 
of  Greece  had,  next  to  Alexandria,  no  more  brilliant 
school  than  in  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor.  Subsequently 
Irenaeus  turned  his  vast  knowledge  to  account  in  his 
controversy  with  Gnosticism,  the  obscure  beginnings  of 
which  in  his  own  country  he  was  able  to  trace.  He 
was  still  young  when  he  came  into  Gaul.  In  order 
to  account  for  this  journey,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose,  as  Gregory  of  Tours  has  done,  an  official 
commission  given  by  Polycarp  to  Irenaeus.*  The  bond 
between  the  various  Churches  was  very  close,  and 
especially  so  between  Gaul  and  Asia  Minor,  through 
the  relations  of  commerce.  Irenaeus,  immediately  on 
his  arrival  at  Lyons,  was  made  one  of  the  elders  of  the 
Church  of  that  city,  and  became,  in  fact,  through  the 
confidence  placed  in  him  by  the  old  Bishop  Pothinus, 
its  director  and  head.  The  times  wrere  searching : 
persecution  was  raging  with  extraordinary  fury,  and  the 
East  had  not  only  sent  into  Gaul  some  strong  Christians 
like  Irenaeus,  it  had  also  sent  heretics,  who  were  the 
*  Gregory  ox  Tours,  "  Hist.  Franc,"  Vol.  I. 


BOOK    II.- 

more  dangerous  that  they  were  scarcely  suspected,  and 
might  catch  the  Gauls  unawares  in  the  simplicity 
of  their  faith.  Irenaeus,  under  these  circumstances, 
exerted  a  most  happy  influence.  We  have  a  striking 
proof  of  the  confidence  which  he  inspired,  in  the 
letter  of  which  the  Church  of  Lyons  made  him  the 
bearer  to  Rome.  They  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  that 
city:  "We  have  prayed  our  brother  and  colleague 
Irenaeus  to  bear  to  thee  these  letters.  We  commend 
him  to  thee  as  a  devoted  servant  of  the  testament  of 
Christ."* 

The  journey  undertaken  by  Irenaeus  had  a  twofold 
object.  He  was  first  to  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of  the 
Christians  on  behalf  of  the  much-suffering  martyrs  of 
Lyons,  and  next  to  convey  and  uphold  their  opinion  on  one 
of  the  questions  then  most  deeply  agitating  the  Church. t 
This  was  the  heresy  of  Montanus,  who  had  gained 
many  adherents  at  Lyons  as  in  Italy.  The  Montanists 
had  not  as  yet  broken  with  the  orthodox  Church,  and 
meanwhile  they  were  calling  forth  hot  discussions 
among  the  Christians.  It  seems  that  at  Rome  the 
Church  was  fluctuating  between  fatal  compliance  and 
futile  severity.  The  Christians  of  Lyons  desired  to 
make  known  their  decided  opinion  to  the  Bishop,  who, 
according  to  Tertullian,  had  fallen  to  some  extent  under 
the  influence  of  Montanism.^  Their  counsel  seems  to 
have  been  both  wise  and  moderate,  and  no  more  fit 
messenger  could  have  been  found  to  convey  it  than 
Irenaeus,  the  apostle  of  conciliation,   who  had,   so  to 


*   Zj/Xwrqj'  ov-a  rT/r  CtaOi'iKijQ  rod  Xpiarou.    (Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  V.  iv.l 
f  St.    Jerome    ("De    Viris    Illustr.."'   xxw  )   thus    explains    the 

journey  of  Irenaeus:    "  Ob  quasdam  Ecclesiae  questiones  legatus 

Romam  missus  est." 


J  Tertullian,  "  Adv.  Praxeam,"  i. 


256  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

speak,  beheld  the  very  birth  of  Montanism.*  We  do 
not  know  precisely  what  was  the  result  of  his  mission. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  he  fulfilled  it  with  much  zeal. 
The  Church  of  Rome  was  a  very  important  one  in  the 
view  of  Irenaeus,  not  as  the  centre  of  a  hierarchy  which 
had  in  truth  no  existence,  but  as  an  apostolic  Church 
and  the  focus  of  primitive  tradition  in  the  West.t  It 
was  of  the  first  moment  to  Irenaeus,  viewing  tradition 
as  he  did,  that  there  should  be  no  extinction  or  obscura- 
tion of  a  light,  designed  to  enlighten  a  multitude  of 
Churches,  which  could  not  have  recourse  to  the  other 
centres  of  apostolic  teaching,  since  these  were  all  in 
the  East.  His  sojourn  at  Rome  was  not  without  in- 
fluence on  his  own  mental  development.  His  circle 
of  ideas  and  of  experience  widened;  he  became  better 
acquainted  with  various  heresies,  which  he  met  with  in 
the  metropolis  of  the  empire.  Probably  also  his  love 
of  tradition  strengthened,  as  it  fed  on  all  the  me- 
morials, more  or  less  authentic,  treasured  up  of  the 
great  apostles  who  had  preached  in  Rome. 

When  he  returned  to  Lyons,  the  aged  Bishop  Pothinus 
was  dead,  and  the  Church  itself  was  decimated  by  per- 
secution. A  firm  hand  was  needed  to  steer  the  vessel 
through  the  terrible  storm  still  muttering  thunder. 
Irenaeus  had  already  been  designated  for  the  bishopric, 

*  See  the  whole  account  given  by  Eusebius  of  this  mission 
("H.  E.,"  V.  iii.  iv).  He  thus  characterises  the  letter  of  the 
Christians  of  Lyons  :  EvXafii)  mi  opdocoloraTiiv.  This  letter  was 
therefore  at  once  benevolent  and  orthodox,  which  leads  us  to  sup- 
pose that  he  sought  to  deprecate  on  the  one  hand  extreme  severity, 
and  on  the  other,  sinful  connivance  at  heresy  in  the  Church  of 
Rome. 

•f  A  careful  perusal  of  the  famous  passage  on  the  "  Principalitas  " 
of  the  Roman  Church  ("Contra  Haeres,"  III.  iii.)  will  suffice  to  show 
that  Irenaeus  had  no  other  idea  than  that  01  cherishing  the  work  and 
memory  of  the  Apostles. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   257 

and  he  accepted  it  with  joy  in  the  day  of  danger.  To 
do  so,  was  to  prepare  himself  for  martyrdom.  After  the 
fearful  persecution  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  some  respite 
was  granted  to  the  Church,  and  it  reaped  the  glorious 
fruits  of  the  bloody  seed-sowing  of  the  previous  years. 
A  crowd  of  neophytes  thronged  to  its  gates.  According 
to  Gregory  of  Tours,  Irenaeus  carried  the  Gospel  to  the 
greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lyons.*  These  days 
of  tranquillity  were  not  all  gain  to  the  truth.  Heresy, 
too,  was  busy  in  the  work  of  perversion.  The  facility 
of  communication  between  Gaul  and  Asia  Minor, 
had  led  to  Lyons  some  of  those  false  teachers  who 
were  the  crafty  ministers  of  error,  and  who  crept 
unawares  into  the  Church.  Irenaeus  has  given  us  a 
striking  picture  of  them.  He  shows  us  the  heretics 
insinuating  themselves  into  families,  and,  under  a  mask 
of  orthodoxy,  using  all  means  to  subvert  the  faith, 
gaining  an  influence  over  the  susceptible  minds  o 
some,  and  flattering  the  pride  of  all.  Similar  attempts 
at  perversion  were  made  at  this  time  through  the 
entire  Church.  The  pious  bishop  sought  to  oppose 
error  by  unmasking  it,  and  in  the  year  180  he  wrote 
his  book  "  Against  Heresies,"  to  which  we  shall  have 
to  make  constant  reference,  when  we  come  to  our  ex- 
position of  orthodox  doctrine  in  the  second  century.t 
For  the  present,  we  shall  only  give  an  outline  Oi  its 
general  character.  Written  in  a  bold  and  simple  style, 
this  book   faithfully  reflects  the  soul  of  Irenaeus.     It 

*  Gregory  of  Tours,  "  Hist.  Franc,"  I.  29. 

f  The  book  "Contra  Haeres."  cannot  have  been  written  beiore  the 
year  172,  since  mention  is  made  in  it  ot  Tatian  (I.  xxviii.)  It  carries 
the  list  of  Roman  bishops  down  to  Eleutherus,  and  mentions  the 
Montanists.  The  Greek  text  has  been  in  great  part  lost  ;  but  the 
Latin  translation  is  very  ancient,  since  it  is  certainly  cited  by 
Tertullian.     ("'  Contra  Valentin.,"  xxxix.) 


258  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

exhibits  neither  the  philosophic  boldness  of  Alexandria, 
nor  the  fierce  fervour  of  Carthage.  The  author  invari- 
ably pursues  that  middle  track,  which  it  was  his  nature 
to  prefer.  Tradition  fills  a  large  place  in  this  work,  and 
is  appealed  to  as  the  paramount  rule  of  faith.  This 
book  contributed  more  than  any  other  theological  work 
of  the  times,  to  establish  the  ecclesiastical  authority, 
not  upon  a  monarchical  basis  such  as  it  subsequently 
received,  but  upon  the  principles  of  a  sort  of  episcopal 
aristocracy.  Irenseus  displays  throughout  his  unfailing 
moderation ;  he  discusses  rather  than  condemns  :  he 
does  not  thunder  anathemas  on  every  page,  as  is  too 
commonly  done  by  the  champions  of  orthodoxy.  We 
feel  that  while  he  holds  error  in  hearty  detestation, 
he  is  full  of  compassion  for  the  heretics.  He  expresses 
this  pity  very  nobly  in  the  following  passage :  "  If  we 
publish  their  errors,  they  themselves  confirm  them, 
teach  them,  and  boast  of  them.  We,  for  our  part, 
entreat  them  not  to  remain  longer  in  the  ditch  they 
have  made  for  themselves  with  their  own  hands,  and  to 
forsake  those  shades  of  darkness,  so  that,  coming  into 
the  Church  of  God,  they  may  be  born  to  the  true  life; 
that  Jesus  Christ  maybe  formed  in  them,  and  that  they 
may  know  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  universe, 
the  only  true  God  and  Lord  over  all.  This  is  our  desire 
for  them,  and  we  love  them  better  than  they  love 
themselves.  The  love  we  bear  to  them  is  sincere,  and 
it  will  be  well  for  them  if  they  respond  to  it,  for  it  is 
like  a  bitter  medicine  designed  to  cleanse  and  heal. 
Therefore,  while  multiplying  our  efforts  for  their  con- 
version, we  never  cease  to  hold  out  to  them  friendly 
hands."* 

*  "  Haec  precamur  de  illis,  utilius  eos  diligentes,  quam  ipsa  semet 
ipsos  putant  diligeri.  Manum  porrigere  eis  non  taedebit  nos." 
(Irena^us,  "  Contra  Haeres.,"  III.  xlvi.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   259 

The  plan  of  the  great  work  of  Irenaeus,  which  is 
divided  into  five  books,  is  very  simple.  The  author 
himself  indicates,  in  the  preface  to  his  third  book,  the 
plan  of  the  first  three.  He  commences  by  describing 
the  proceedings  of  the  heretics,  then  he  gives  a  complete 
exposition  of  their  doctrines  and  of  their  life.  The 
second  book  is  a  detailed  refutation  of  their  errors  ; 
the  third  resumes'  the  refutation  from  a  Scriptural 
point  of  view,  by  quotations  of  the  sacred  text.  The 
two  last  books  refer  especially  to  the  words  oi  Christ 
and  of  the  Apostles.  Happy  age  in  which,  instead  of 
seeking  to  repress  heresy  by  proscription  and  violence, 
the  Church  combated  it  with  the  lawful  weapons 
of  earnest  and  thoughtful  discussion  !  The  letter  to 
the  heretic  Florinus,  preserved  to  us  by  Eusebius,  and 
containing  the  precious  fragment  about  Polycarp,  is 
written  from  the  same  stand-point  as  the  book  against 
heresy.* 

If  the  great  Bishop  of  Lyons  showed  himself  a  zealous 
defender  of  the  episcopate  and  of  tradition,  he  did  not 
in  any  way  recognise  the  primacy  of  one  bishop  over 
the  rest,  nor  anything  like  the  false  and  mechanical 
unity  constituted  by  decrees  proceeding  from  Rome. 
In  the  controversy  raised  about  the  celebration  of  Easter, 
he  maintained,  in  opposition  to  Bishop  Victor,  the  rights 
of  Christian  freedom.  While  approving  the  practice 
of  the  West,  he  strongly  opposed  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication pronounced  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome  upon 
the  bishops  of  Asia  Minor ;  and  he  gained  for  his  opinion 
the  weight  of  a  synodal  decision,  passed  at  Lyons  in  an 
assembly  of  the  bishops  of  Gaul.t  It  seems  that  this 
step  taken  by  Irenaeus  had  all  the  success  desired,  ior 
in  the  next  century  Firmilianus  affirmed  that  peace  had 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  V.  xx.  f  See  Irenaeus'  letter.    (Ibid.,  xxiv.) 


260 


THE    EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


been  preserved  in  the  Church  until  the  episcopate 
of  Stephen.*  This  assertion  proves  that  the  troubles 
in  the  time  of  Victor  had  been  speedily  quieted. 

According  to  Gregory  of  Tours,  Irenaeus  suffered 
martyrdom  under  Severus,  in  the  year  197. t  He  left 
a  memory  respected  by  all,  and  his  influence  went  on 
augmenting  after  his  death,  in  many  respects  for  the 
good  of  the  Church,  but  also  to  the  detriment  of  her 
liberty;  for  he  had  laid  down  principles,  which  in  their 
ultimate  consequences  would  tend  to  establish  that 
very  hierarchy,  the  early  pretensions  of  which  he  had 
so  earnestly  sought  to  keep  in  subjection. 

*  See  Cyprian,  "  Epist."  lxxv.  St.  Jerome  ("  De  Viris  Illustr.,^ 
xxxi.)  quotes  other  writings  of  Irenaeus  :  1st,  "  Contra  Gentes," 
volumen  breve  ;  2nd,  "De  Disciplina,"  aliud;  3rd,  "Ad  Martionum 
fratrem  de  apostolica  praedicatione  ;"  4th,  librum,  "  Vanorum 
Tractatuum  ;"  5th,  "  Ad  Blastum  de  Schismate  ;"  6th,  "  De 
ogdoade."  We  have  already  quoted  the  well-known  fragment 
of  Pfaff.  f  "  Hist.  Franc.,"  I.  27. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH,  FROM  THE 
END  OF  THE  SECOND  CENTURY  TO  THE  TIME  OF 
CONSTANTINE.* 

§  I.    The  Ecclesiastical   Writers  in  Asia  Minor,  Greece, 
and  Egypt,  until  Origen. 

The  period  of  great  outward  sufferings  was  also  to  the 
Church  a  time  of  much  inward  struggle.  This  era 
in  her  history  is  characterised  by  a  wide  extension 
of  thought  in  all  directions,  a  large  development 
of  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  life.  Persecutions  raged 
without,  heresy  grew  within ;  perils  of  all  kinds  seemed 
to  threaten  at  once,  and  problems  of  gravest  moment 
sought,  or  rather  demanded,  solution.  The  Church, 
in  the  midst  of  conflict  and  suffering,  was  constrained 
to  give  attention  to  the  momentous  questions  of  doctrine 
and  discipline  which  arose,  and  to  organise  the  religious 
community,  while  the  axe  was  all  the  time  suspended 
over  its  head. 

It  will  be  our  task  to  follow  through  all  its  phases 
this   process   of  development,  from   which  resulted    a 

*  The  books  of  reference  are :  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  and 
Routh's  "  Reliq.  Sacra.%"  III.  IV.,  for  those  whose  works  are 
lost;  Eusebius,  VI.  and  VII.  of  his  history;  St.  Jerome,  "  De 
Viris  Illustribus  ;"  Anastasius,  "Liber  Pontificalis."  We  may 
cite  also  the  following:  "Memoires"  of  Lenain  de  Tillemont, 
IV.  ;  Bcehringer,  "  Die  Kirche  Christi  und  ihrc  Zeugen,"  I.  ; 
Hergog's  "Encyclopaedia;"  and  various  monographs  which  will 
be  given  as  they  occur. 


262  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Church  admirable  in  many  respects,  but  very  different 
from  the  Church  as  we  have  seen  it  in  the  apostolic 
age.  For  the  present  we  shall  endeavour,  not  so  much 
to  enter  into  the  conflicts  of  dogma,  as  to  sketch  the 
figures  of  the  combatants  engaged,  and  to  make  them 
move  and  speak  before  us  in  their  true  characters. 
We  shall  defer  any  methodical  exposition  of  systems, 
while  we  try  to  bring  into  relief  the  man,  rather 
than  the  theologian,  in  each  of  the  Fathers  of  this 
period.  We  must  ever  bear  in  mind,  that  if  the  Church 
of  this  age  prepared  the  way  for  the  triumph  of  the 
hierarchy,  it  did  not  itself  come  under  the  yoke  ;  that 
it  still  enjoyed  a  time  of  true  liberty,  in  which  the  unity 
of  the  faith  laid  no  fetters  upon  diversity  of  opinion  and 
free  inquiry.  There  were  still  broad  lines  of  distinction 
between  East  and  West,  and  no  necessity  was  felt  for 
effacing  these  distinctions,  or  enforcing  the  adoption 
of  one  uniform  symbol  of  the  faith.  Full  scope  was 
given  for  the  various  individualities,  which  found  bold 
and  broad  expression  within  the  Church.  External 
restraint  only  tends  to  add  force  to  that  reaction  of 
thought  and  feeling,  which  is  the  sublime  vindication 
of  the  liberty  of  the  soul  under  any  despotism  whatsoever. 
The  martyr-theologians  of  the  third  century  are  not  the 
faded  copies  of  one  and  the  same  doctrinal  type,  forcibly 
impressed  upon  the  mind  by  a  mechanical  process. 
All  acknowledging  with  equal  reverence  the  authority 
of  the  Divine  Master,  they  have  no  hesitation  in  pre- 
serving intact  the  independence  of  Christian  thought; 
they  move  at  liberty  within  a  broad  area  of  doctrine, 
from  which  nothing  is  excluded  but  avowed  heresy. 

We  need  not  marvel  that  in  the  midst  of  the  perils 
of  persecution,  and  the  countless  claims  of  missionary 
life,  they  should  have  displayed  so  great  intellectual 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   263 

activity.  That  activity  gathers  strength  from  that  which 
seems  to  restrain  it:  it  is  stimulated  alike  by  the  noble 
endurance  which  elevates  the  moral  being,  by  the  vile 
calumnies  which  a  blameless  life  must  repudiate,  and 
by  the  subtleties  of  heresy  which  its  true  genius  must 
unmask.  The  sophists,  who  seek  to  live  by  their  doc- 
trine, succumb  in  the  hour  of  trial;  the  same  principle 
holds  good  of  the  apostles  of  the  truth;  and  they  are 
never  so  full  of  the  spirit  of  inspiration  as  when  they 
are  ready  to  die  for  the  truth.  In  the  dungeon  and 
at  the  stake,  Christian  thought  found  wings  for  its 
highest  flight. 

The  most  active  centre  of  Christianity  at  this  period, 
must  not  be  sought  in  the  countries  where  it  was 
cradled.  There  it  became  consolidated  and  externally 
developed,  as  we  have  shown,  but  the  predominant 
influence  was  exerted  elsewhere.  From  the  great  cities 
of  Alexandria,  Rome,  and  Carthage,  proceeds  the  ruling 
spirit  of  the  Church  ;  and  if  Cassarea  sheds  forth  a  brief 
but  brilliant  gleam,  it  is  indebted  for  it  to  the  presence 
of  Origen,  the  great  exile  of  the  Egyptian  Church. 
Asia  Minor  supplies  only  a  few  names  of  distinction, 
and  these  are  lustreless  compared  with  those  which 
illuminate  the  Churches  of  Africa  and  Italy.  The 
question  of  the  right  date  for  the  celebration  of  Easter, 
sufficed  for  a  long  time  to  occupy  the  minds  of  these 
bishops,  who  had  neither  the  speculative  genius  of 
Alexandria,  nor  the  aptitude  for  command  of  the  Roman 
Church.  The  See  of  Jerusalem  was  filled,  at  the  close 
of  the  second  and  commencement  of  the  third  centuries, 
by  Narcissus,  a  man  of  austere  piety,  verging  on  asceti- 
cism. Vilely  slandered  by  treacherous  enemies,  he  gave 
no  reply  but  silence,  and  during  long  years  withdrew 
himself  into  the  desert.     A  legend,  which  must  be  of 


264  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

great  antiquity,  since  Eusebius  repeats  it,  ascribes  to 
him  numerous  miracles,  but  they  so  closely  resemble 
those  of  the  apocryphal  gospels,  that  we  can  only  hold 
them  to  be  also  apocryphal.  The  long  retirement  of 
a  man  placed  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  most  important 
Churches,  would  no  doubt  impress  the  imagination  of 
the  Christian  community,  and  we  know  that  no  soil  has 
been  more  fertile  in  myth  and  legend  than  the  sand 
of  the  deserts,  in  which  pious  solitaries  sought  a  refuge 
from  the  world  and  sin.*  When  more  than  a  hundred 
years  old,  Narcissus  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  joined 
Alexander  to  himself  in  the  episcopate.  Alexander  had 
been  for  a  long  lime  the  director  of  a  Church  in  Cappa- 
docia,  and  had  come  to  Palestine  to  visit  the  holy  places. 
The  two  bishops  were  led  to  the  step  thus  taken  by 
a  two-fold  revelation.!  Alexander  wrote  several  letters 
to  his  colleagues  in  the  episcopate.  He  had  with  him, 
for  some  time,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  the  esteem 
in  which  he  held  him,  showed  that  he  was  a  man  of 
breadth  and  generous  spirit. I  He  was  cast  into  prison 
in  the  persecution  under  Decius,  and  died  the  death 
of  the  confessors. §  The  Church  of  Caesarea,  which 
was  to  claim  the  honour  of  receiving  the  exiled  Origen 
and  his  school,  was  directed  under  Severus  by  the 
Bishop  Theophilus,  who  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
discussion  of  the  Easter  question,  and  exercised  a 
great  influence  in  the  synod  held  in  reference  to  it.|| 
Antioch,  one  of  the  metropolitan  Churches  of  Asia, 
had  at  its  head,  at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Commo- 
dus  and  the  commencement  of  that  of  Severus,  the 
Bishop    Serapion,    who    distinguished    himself  by   his 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  x. 

f   Kara  airoKcikvfyiv  vvKTiop.      (Ibid.,  XI.)  J  Ibid. 

§  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxii.  ||  Ibid.,  xliii. 


BOOK   II.— THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        265 

numerous    writings    directed    against    Montanism    and 
Judaism.* 

The  Greek  Church  does  not  appear  to  have  taken 
any  place  of  importance  during  this  period.  It  had 
neither  great  bishops  nor  illustrious  teachers.  Athens 
was  totally  eclipsed  by  Alexandria.  The  Church  of 
Corinth,  which  had  once  shown  itself  so  easily  agitated 
by  troubles  revealing  a  strong  though  often  ill-directed 
life,  was  in  a  state  of  such  complete  repose  that  history 
passes  it  by  in  silence.  One  only  of  its  bishops  was 
an  exception  to  the  general  obscurity — Bacchylus, 
who  lived  in  the  time  of  Severus,  and  who  was  held 
in  high  veneration  by  his  Achaian  colleagues.  He  wrote 
on  the  Easter  question. t  We  shall  confine  ourselves 
to  enumerating  the  names  of  those  teachers  or  bishops, 
whose  works  are  known  either  by  their  titles  or  by  some 
extant  fragments.  Heraclitus,  who,  in  the  time  of 
Severus,  wrote  a  commentary  on  Paul's  Epistles ;% 
Maximus,  who  discussed  the  question  of  the  origin  of 
evil ;  Candidus  and  Appion,  who  wrote  on  the  six  days 
of  creation  ;  §  Sextus,  author  of  a  book  on  the  resurrec- 
tion ;  Arabianus,  whose  name  alone  has  survived ;  and 
Jude,  who,  in  a  commentary  on  the  seventy  weeks 
of  Daniel,  made  out  a  complete  chronology  of  the 
Church,  from  its  foundation  to  the  time  of  Severus,  and 
proclaimed  the  approaching  advent  of  Antichrist.  || 
The  mere  titles  of  these  works  give  sufficient  proof 
that  the  minds  of  their  authors  were  much  occupied 
with  heretical  Gnosticism,  and  especially  with  the 
oriental  dualism  which  characterised  it  ;  for  they 
recur  perpetually  to   the  great   problem   of  the  origin 

*  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xli.;  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Vl.xii. 
|  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xliv.  J  Ibid.,  xlvi. 

§  Ibid.,  xlvi-xlix.  ||  Ibid.,  xxxiii. 

13 


266  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

of  matter.  It  is  evident,  also,  that  whenever  they  are 
not  stimulated  by  the  attacks  of  their  adversaries,  their 
thoughts  revert  by  preference  to  petty  questions  of 
chronology. 

Let  us  now  transfer  our  attention  to  the  more  active 
and  brilliant  centre  of  Christian  thought,  in  that  Church 
of  Alexandria,  of  which  we  have  more  than  once  spoken 
already,  but  with  which  we  must  cultivate  a  more 
intimate  acquaintance  in  the  person  of  its  most  illus- 
trious representatives.  We  have  seen  how,  long  before 
the  time  of  Christ,  the  metropolis  of  Egypt  had  outrun 
the  city  of  Plato,  Sophocles,  and  Phidias.  But  it  is  to 
the  glory  of  Athens,  that  it  could  no  longer  govern  the 
world  after  it  had  become  itself  enslaved,  and  that  it 
lost,  with  its  independence,  the  afflatus  of  high  art, 
the  inspiration  which  produced  its  greatest  works. 
Alexandria,  more  learned  and  more  subtle,  never  rose 
to  the  heights  of  sublime  poetry  or  manly  eloquence,  but 
it  gathered  together  and  fused  all  the  elements  of  the 
old  world,  and  created,  in  its  own  manner,  a  sort  of 
universalism,  vague  rather  than  broad,  in  which  the 
religions  of  East  and  West  were  alike  deprived  of  their 
exclusive  character,  Judaism  itself  being  made  to  enter 
into  alliance  with  the  polytheistic  religions  which  it 
had  so  long  proscribed.  Born  of  this  heterogeneous 
union,  the  Alexandrine  mind  rose  above  all  national 
divergences;  but  it  also  rose  above  reality,  above  history, 
to  the  cloudy  summits  of  speculation,  and  it  was  utterly 
wanting  in  the  historic  sense.  Strong  in  its  allegorical 
method,  it  sported  with  facts  ;  and  its  philosophical 
theories  were  at  once  aspiring  and  unsubstantial. 
Attaching  great  significance  to  symbols,  it  gave  primary 
importance  to  that  first  and  greatest  of  symbols — 
human  speech.     It  developed  an  elaborate  science  of 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        267 

language,  in  which  the  schoolman's  devotion  to 
minutiae  was  combined  with  the  subtle  imagination 
of  the  mythologist.  With  these  tendencies,  it  was 
naturally  predisposed  to  Gnosticism,  and  the  most 
fervent  faith  of  the  Christians  of  this  school,  bears 
the  impress  alike  of  its  virtues  and  its  defects. 

Alexandria  was  essentially  the  home  of  letters.  Men 
lived  there  for  science  only.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  Christian  era,  it  possessed  two  splendid  scientific 
institutions,  which  cast  into  the  shade  both  temples  and 
palaces.  These  were  the  Museum  and  the  Serapeum. 
The  former  had  been  instituted  by  the  Ptolemies  in 
the  western  quarter  of  the  city.  It  was  surrounded 
with  porticoes  and  pleasure-gardens,  and  contained 
an  extensive  library  and  a  hall  for  public  debates.  The 
Serapeum  vied  with  the  Museum  in  beauty  of  archi- 
tecture and  in  the  number  of  its  valuable  manuscripts. 
Such  institutions  do  not  create  the  scientific  spirit,  but 
they  favour  and  foster  it  where  it  already  exists.  Persons 
from  all  points  of  the  empire  resorted  to  Alexandria 
to  visit  them.  There  the  Greek  or  Roman  philosopher, 
wrapped  in  the  mantle  which  was  his  official  garb, 
encountered  the  Asiatic  ascetic  or  the  Jewish  rabbi."* 
The  Christian  Church  made  many  conquests  among 
all  these  philosophers,  gathered  at  Alexandria  out  of 
curiosity  or  from  the  prevailing  restlessness  of  the  age. 
These  proselytes  had  intellectual  needs  to  be  satisfied, 
and  errors  to  be  removed.  Christianity,  which  is  to 
be  all  things  to  all  men,  proved  itself  as  well  able 
to  rise  to  the  height  of  these  refined  and  agitated 
spirits,  as  to  stoop  to  the  comprehension  of  slaves 
and  of  children.  It  was  equally  adapted  to  reach  the 
two  extremes  of  human  intellect — wise  among  the  wise, 
*  Redepenning,  "  Origen,"  I.  io,  11. 


268  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

simple  among  the  simple,  divine  ever.  The  Church 
instituted  in  the  brilliant  capital  of  Egypt,  a  school  of 
Christian  philosophy,  which  could  well  bear  comparison, 
in  depth  and  in  science,  with  the  other  schools,  while 
it  surpassed  all  in  the  possession  of  the  truth.  It  is 
known  under  the  name  of  the  School  of  the  Catechists. 
In  order  to  form  a  just  conception  of  it,  we  must  set 
aside  all  notions  of  a  fixed  and  invariable  organisation. 
No  such  regular  and  systematic  course  of  religious  in- 
struction was  given  at  Alexandria,  as  is  common  in  the 
Church  of  our  own  day.  The  catechumens  of  the  early 
ages  were  carefully  instructed ;  but  the  original  text 
of  the  constitution  of  the  Church  at  Alexandria,  shows 
us  that  the  primary  instruction  given  was  very  simple, 
and  bore  mainly  on  the  fundamental  points  of  the  faith. 
The  School  of  the  Catechists  no  doubt  had  its  origin  in 
the  instruction  of  the  catechumens,  but  its  curriculum 
was  subsequently  much  enlarged,  and  it  embraced 
among  its  disciples  a  large  number  of  Christians  already 
baptised,  and  even  some  pagans.  It  became  a  veritable 
school  of  Christian  philosophy  and  theology,  or  in  our 
modern  phraseology,  it  had  a  chair  of  divinity.  It  was 
not  indeed  accompanied  with  much  outward  show. 
The  public  and  formal  teaching  of  philosophy  was  not 
a  part  of  the  old  traditional  method.  Its  most  illustrious 
masters  in  Greece  had  been  content  with  free  dis- 
cussions, and  its  two  most  famous  schools  had  derived 
their  names  from  these  familiar  practices.  The  name 
of  the  Academy  recalled  the  gardens  of  Academus, 
where  the  divine  Plato  had  delivered  his  doctrine,  and 
the  Peripatetic  school  gloried  in  preserving  in  this,  its 
habitual  designation,  the  memory  of  the  walks  of 
Aristotle  with  his  disciples.  Teaching  thus  informally 
delivered,  carried  all  the  more  authority;  grand  declama- 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   269 

tions  and  solemn  dissertations  commenced  with  the 
decline  of  philosophy.  The  first  Christians  remained 
faithful  to  ancient  customs.  The  teaching  of  Christ 
was  even  more  bold  in  its  simplicity  and  in  the  absence 
of  official  form,  than  that  of  Socrates.  It  was  fitting 
that  a  living  truth  like  Christianity,  the  power  of  which 
lies  in  the  strength  of  conviction  with  which  it  is 
received,  should  be  communicated  from  soul  to  soul. 
The  best  school  of  theology  was  the  house  of  a  true 
Christian.  Thus  the  faith  of  Polycarp  was  formed 
at  the  feet  of  St.  John,  and  that  of  Irenaeus  at  the  feet 
of  Polycarp.  Justin  Martyr,  the  Christian  philosopher, 
gathered  around  him  a  group  of  attentive  disciples 
wherever  he  went.  The  School  of  the  Catechists  at 
Alexandria  rested  upon  precisely  the  same  foundations. 
It  did  not  assemble  in  any  large  building ;  it  was  not 
connected  with  worship,  nor  presided  over  by  a  bishop. 
Founded  by  laymen,  it  differed  in  no  outward  circum- 
stance from  the  ancient  schools  of  the  philosophers. 
Although  it  was  recognised  by  the  regular  authorities 
of  the  Church,  and  although  the  catechists  were  named 
by  its  early  pastors,  it  was  free  to  assemble  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  in  the  house  of  the  Christian  teacher.* 
Thither  resorted  both  men  and  women,  and  the  teaching 
which,  beside  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  embraced 
uninspired  literature  and  even  the  exposition  of  the 
various  systems  of  ancient  philosophy,  was  adapted 
to  the  culture  of  all  the  learners.  The  work  was 
essentially  one  of  faith  and  devotedness ;  there  was 
no  payment. t 

Three  great  teachers  of  unequal  merit  gave  impor- 

*  Eusebius  ("  H.  E.,"  VI.  iii.)   shows  us  the  disciples  of  Origen 
assembled  in  his  house. 

f  Redepenning,  "  Origen,"  I.  59-69. 


270  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tance  and  influence  to  the  Church  of  Alexandria : 
Pantaenus,  Clement,  and  Origen  successively  reflected 
lustre  upon  it.  Pantaenus,  probably  a  native  of  Greece,* 
early  embraced  the  philosophy  of  the  Portico  ;  then, 
yielding  to  the  influences  of  the  time,  he  became 
a  disciple  of  the  Pythagorean  philosophy,  or  rather, 
of  the  eclectic  theosophy,  then  in  so  great  favour.t 
We  have  no  particulars  of  his  conversion.  It  is  known 
only  that  as  soon  as  he  was  won  to  the  Gospel,  he 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  its  service,  turning  to  ac- 
count, for  its  diffusion  and  defence,  all  the  knowledge 
which  he  had  acquired  as  a  master  in  the  schools  of 
philosophy. 

At  Alexandria,  to  which  he  repaired  in  the  year  180, 
he  found  scope  for  his  great  powers.  There  his  rich 
stores  of  learning  were  sure  to  meet  with  due  appre- 
ciation. He  was  the  true  founder  of  the  School  of  the 
Catechists ;  he  raised  it  to  the  height  at  which  it  was 
maintained  by  his  successors  ;  and  he  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  to  conceive  in  all  its  breadth  the  plan 
of  the  Alexandrine  apology,  so  admirably  carried  out 
by  Clement  and  Origen. £  There  is  evidence  of  true 
genius,  as  well  as  of  a  noble  largeness  of  heart,  in  his 
views  of  the  providential  design  to  be  answered  by  the 
high  culture  of  Greece.  He  prepared  the  way  for  a 
truly  philosophical  and  Christian  survey  of  the  history 
of  humanity.     He  discerned  with  more  clearness  than 

*  Testimonies  differ  on  this  point.  It  has  been  asserted  that 
Pantaenus  was  born  in  Sicily,  because  Clement  compares  him  to 
the  bee  of  Sicily  ;  but  this  is  straining  a  metaphor.  (Clement, 
"  Strom.,"  I.  i.  §  11.) 

t  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  V.  x. :  "Stoicae  sectae  philosophus ."  (Jerome, 
"  De  Viris  Ulustr.,"  xxxvi.     Redepenning,  "  Origen,"  I.  65.) 

I  Origen  says  positively  that  his  teaching  was  modelled  on 
that  of  Pantaenus  :  Miurjadutvos  rbv  irpu  rmtLv  Uavraivov.  (Eusebius, 
"H.E.,"  Vl.xiv.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        27I 

Justin,  the  unity  of  the  Divine  plan  under  the  diversity 
of  nationalities  and  the  seeming  confusion  of  events. 
He  appears  to  have  possessed  in  large  measure  the  gift 
of  eloquence,  for  Clement,  in  his  "  Stromata,"  declares 
himself  incapable  of  reproducing  his  teaching  in  its 
original  beauty  and  elevation.  "  I  know,"  he  says 
humbly,  when  speaking  of  the  "Stromata,"  "what  is 
the  weakness  of  these  reflections,  if  I  compare  them 
with  the  gifted  and  gracious  teaching  I  was  privileged 
to  hear."*  Science,  as  understood  by  Pantaenus,  so 
far  from  petrifying  the  heart,  quickened  it  into  holy 
ardour.  We  see  this  illustrious  teacher  himself  carrying 
the  Gospel  into  the  far  East,  thus  preparing  himself  by 
a  missionary  life  for  his  theological  course,  or  perhaps 
breaking  off  such  a  course  to  go  and  proclaim  the  name 
of  Christ  to  barbarous  tribes,  to  whom  it  was  but 
partially  known. t  Happy  is  the  age  in  which  scientific 
theology  is  not  severed  from  active  and  militant  piety, 
in  which  a  man  gave  his  whole  self  to  the  cause, 
and  heroically  carried  into  practice  that  which  he  elo- 
quently taught  in  theory !  We  know  that  Pantaenus 
found  the  Aramaic  gospel  of  Matthew  in  the  distant 
country  to  which  he  went.  Some  commentaries  on  the 
Scriptures,  written  by  him,  were  for  a  time  extant, 
which  opened  the  way  for  the  allegorical  interpreters. 

*  To  Tivivna  Ik&vo  to  KixapiTiankvov.  (Clement,  "  Strom.,"  I. 
i.  §  14.)  Clement  speaks  again  of  the  luminous  and  loving 
language  of  his  masters,  among  whom  Pantaenus  was  chief. 
(Ibid.,  §  ii  )  "  Magis  viva  voce  Ecclesiis  profuit,"  says  Jerome 
("  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xxxvi.),  speaking  of  the  same  teacher. 

+  It  is  difficult  to  determine  precisely  the  date  of  this  mission. 
Jerome  ("  De  Viris  Illustr.."  xxxvi.)  asserts  that  Pantaenus  was 
sent  on  his  mission  by  the  Bishop  Demetrius,  which  would  bring 
the  date  down  beyond  the  year  190.  On  the  other  hand,  Eusebius 
conveys  the  idea  that  he  died  a  catechist.  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.," 
VI.  x.)  We  are  free  to  suppose  a  temporary  interruDtion  01  his 
teaching. 


272  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Of  these  commentaries  we  possess  only  scattered  frag- 
ments.* But  he  left  behind  him  something  better  than 
his  writings  ;  he  left  a  disciple,  who  was  destined  to 
surpass  the  master,  while  carrying  on  his  work. 

Titus  Flavius  Clement  of  Alexandria,  thus  known 
because  of  the  great  reputation  gained  by  his  teaching 
in  the  capital  of  Egypt,  was  probably  of  Greek  extrac- 
tion.t  Born  in  the  midst  of  paganism,  he  spent  his 
youth,  like  so  many  other  distinguished  spirits  of  his 
day,  in  active  and  ardent  researches  after  truth.  He 
travelled  far  and  wide,  and  never  paused  in  his 
passionate  pursuit  till,  in  his  own  words,  he  found 
rest  in  the  bosom  of  the  Word  of  the  eternal  truth. 
Deeming  nothing  worthy  of  note  which  did  not  bear 
upon  the  great  purpose  of  his  soul,  he  enters  into  no 
details  of  his  outward  life.  He  visited  the  most  brilliant 
cities  of  the  ancient  world ;  he  travelled  both  in  Asia 
and  Africa,  but  he  has  given  no  account  of  these  coun- 
tries, nor  of  his  adventures.  He  has  kept  a  record  of 
one  journey  only — his  soul's  journey  through  the  various 
systems  of  religion  and  philosophy.  This  alone  is  of 
interest  to  him.  His  writings  show  what  a  wealth  of 
information  he  acquired  in  this  period  of  his  life.  Poets 
and  philosophers  became  equally  familiar  to  him,  and 
he  lifted  the  veil  of  all  the  mysteries  of  religion.  He 
tells  us  that  he  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  many 
eminent  representatives  of  Christianity  in  Italy,  Greece, 
and  Asia.J  Pantaenus,  to  whom  he  plainly  alludes,  was 
the  teacher  who  exercised  the  most  decisive  influence 
over  him.     He   says :    "  After  hearing  his  teaching,  I 

*  Routh,  "Reliq.  Sacra?,"  I.  380,381. 

f  See  Jerome  on  Clement  ("De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xxxviii.  iii.  ; 
Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xiii.  ;  Redepenning,  "  Origen,"  I.  73). 
We  shall  refer  principally  to  these  works. 

X  "  Strom.,"  I.  i.  §  1 1. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   273 

fixed  my  abode  in  Egypt."  Like  the  bee  of  Sicily, 
he  sought  out  in  the  field  of  the  Scriptures,  the  sweet 
flowers  of  the  word  of  prophets  and  apostles,  and 
distilled  pure  knowledge  into  the  souls  of  his  hearers.*" 
Pantaenus,  by  his  learning,  his  large-heartedness,  and 
his  piety,  could  not  fail  to  fascinate  a  mind  like 
Clement's.  The  disciple  already  attracted  to  Chris- 
tianity, possibly  even  already  thoroughly  converted  to 
it,  had  not  abjured  the  noble  passion  of  his  youth — 
the  love  of  the  great  philosophy  of  his  country.  He 
could  not  repudiate  this  on  the  same  grounds  as 
the  pagan  superstitions,  which  it  had  secretly  under- 
mined. It  must  have  been  a  lively  joy  to  Clement  to 
learn  from  his  new  master,  that  these  noble  systems 
of  philosophy  need  not  be  treated  as  idols  to  be  broken 
without  mercy,  but  that  they  might  in  a  measure  be 
made  to  serve  the  cause  of  Christ ;  that  the  wisdom  of 
Greece,  like  the  Eastern  magi,  brought  in  fact  its  best 
treasures  and  laid  them  as  an  offering  at  the  Redeemer's 
feet.  Like  the  sun  rising. upon  a  country  lying  in 
darkness,  this  grand  idea  dawned  upon  the  mind  of  the 
young  Christian  philosopher,  and  illuminated  all  his 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  He  felt  that  he 
need  not  renounce  the  pursuit  of  science ;  he  grasped 
in  its  deep  meaning  the  apostolic  saying,  that  every 
thought  might  be  brought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience 
of  Christ  ;  and,  moved  with  holy  jealousy,  he  set  forth 
to  conquer  for  his  Captain  the  various  realms  of  the 
human  mind,  showing  no  connivance  with  error  and 
evil,  but  distinguishing  with  holy  joy  the  precious 
pearls,  buried  in  the  foul  dung-heap  of  paganism. 
Ancient    religions    and    ancient    philosophies   he  con- 

*     l\pi<pr]TlKOV      Ti.      Kai      aiTOGTOklKOV     \tljJ.uJVOQ      TO.      avOt]      SoiTTUUiVOQ. 

("Strom.,"  I.  i.  §  11.) 


274  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

strained  to  give  evidence  against  themselves  in  favour 
of  the  truth,  alike  by  their  purest  aspirations  and  by 
their  shortcomings  and  blemishes.  Following  Pantsenus 
in  the  office  of  catechist,  Clement  expounded,  with 
equal  felicity  and  boldness,  the  principles  from  which 
he  started.  His  writings  may  be  regarded  as  the 
faithful  exponent  of  his  teaching.  They  exhibit,  first  of 
all,  the  noble  spirit  which  animated  all  his  scientific 
activity.  He  urges  that  every  teacher  of  the  truth 
should  ask  himself  scrupulously  "  if  he  is  pure  from 
presumption,  from  the  spirit  of  rivalry,  if  he  is  seeking 
not  his  own  glory,  nor  any  other  recompense  than  the 
salvation  of  them  that  hear  him."*  Elsewhere  he  says 
yet  more  emphatically,  that  he  who  ventures  to  teach 
truth  by  his  writings,  has  pledged  himself  before  God, 
to  trample  under  foot  every  selfish  and  mercenary  con- 
sideration, and  to  contemn  alike  praise  and  payment. 
"  He  must  needs  become  an  imitator  of  the  Lord.  He 
will  fulfil  the  will  of  God  when  he  gives  freely  that 
which  freely  he  has  received,  regarding  himself  as 
sufficiently  repaid  by  his  high  career.t  The  price  of 
prostitution  may  not  be  carried  into  the  sanctuary." 
Again  he  says :  "  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers  ; 
blessed  they  who  by  their  teaching  bring  back  into 
the  path  of  peace,  to  the  living  Word,  travellers 
who  through  ignorance  have  gone  astray  in  the  midst 
of  life,  and  who  are  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness."  X  Could  such  wanderers  find  a 
better  guide  than  Clement,  a  man  who,  having 
himself  long  taken  toilsome  steps  on  the  wrong  road, 

*    Et  TOVTOV  fiOVOV  KCipTTOVTCtl  TOV   fXHjOoV,    Tl)v    <TUJTt]piaV  TWV  t7Ta.'i6vTU>V. 

("  Strom.,"  I.  i.  §  6.)  f  Ibid.,  §  9. 

%  MciKapioi  61  i.lpt]voTToioi,  01  tovq  tvravOa  Kara  rbv  fiwv  icai  ttjv 
ir\uvr]v  TTpbg  Ti)Q  ayvoiag  7roXip,ovfxtvovQ  fxtTctdidcHTKOVTtg  icai  fxtTayovriQ 
tlrtinkwnv       fThirl.^ 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   275 

could  speak  with  fullest  sympathy  to  his  old  companions 
on  the  way  ? 

This  lofty  disinterestedness,  by  which  Clement  was 
distinguished  above  all  the  hired  masters  of  his  time, 
gave  to  his  teaching  not  only  a  higher  moral  power, 
but  also  a  superiority  in  method.  The  best  means  of 
becoming  all  things  to  all  men  is  to  love  all.  Love 
never  fails  to  find  the  way  to  the  heart,  and  no  clair- 
voyance of  the  mind  can  be  compared  with  that 
of  the  heart,  for  discovering  the  points  of  contact 
between  various  individuals  and  the  truth.  Clement 
himself  tells  us  with  what  care  he  endeavoured  to  adapt 
his  teaching  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  condition  of 
his  hearers.  He  says  :  "  He  who  devotes  himself  to 
oral  teaching,  founds  the  judgment  he  forms  of  his 
disciples  upon  experience  and  reflection.  His  eye 
fixes  the  disciple  who  is  able  to  comprehend.  He 
carefully  notes  the  language  of  his  hearers,  their 
character,  their  manners  and  conduct,  their  mood  of 
mind,  their  outward  deportment,  even  the  sound  of 
their  voice,  that  he  may  discern  between  the  wayside, 
the  stony  ground,  the  trodden  path,  and  the  fertile  soil 
— the  good  ground  which,  well  prepared  and  ready  for 
the  seed,  will  bring  forth  a  hundred-fold."* 

We  feel  that  Clement  of  Alexandria  appreciated  in 
all  its  dignity  the  priesthood  of  teaching.  He  reveals 
the  great  thought  which  moved  him,  when  he  says, 
taking  up  the  same  image  of  spiritual  husbandry,  that 
just  as  the  earth  is  made  soft  with  showers  before 
the  seed-time,  so  he  waters  the  soil  which  he  is  to 
cultivate,  with  all  that  is  good  and  true  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Greeks. t     He  makes  use  of  the  Hellenic 

*  "Strom.,"  I.  i.  §  8. 

j-    KaOcnrtp  01  ytwpyoi  irpoapdivaavrtc  t))v  y^v.      (Ibid.,  §  \J.) 


276  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

philosophy  as  a  preparation  for  revelation  ;  he  recog- 
nises in  it  a  divine  idea  encompassed  with  falsity  and 
error.  "  These  tiny  pearls,"  he  says,  "  gathered  from 
the  ancient  philosophies,  and  purified  from  their  foul 
alloy,  only  enhance  by  contrast  the  preciousness  of 
the  pearl  of  great  price."* 

If  without  now  entering  upon  any  exposition  of 
Clement's  doctrine,  we  seek  to  characterise  his  teach- 
ing, it  will  appear  to  us  inexhaustibly  varied,  rich, 
and  original  in  form.  Clement  rejects  all  rhetorical 
ornament ;  he  scorns  that  effeminate  beauty  of  language, 
which  marks  the  decline  of  true  literature.  "  For 
myself,"  he  says,  "  I  am  well  assured  that  the  matter 
of  moment  is  to  live  by  the  Word,  and  to  enter  into  His 
spirit ;  and  I  give  myself  no  concern  about  beauty 
of  words,  only  about  the  beauty  of  truth.  The  one 
thing  needful  is  to  labour  to  save  those  who  desire 
salvation,  not  to  make  an  array  of  phrases,  like  the 
ornaments  of  a  woman.  Words  are  as  the  vesture 
which  clothes  the  body ;  the  things  expressed  by  words 
are  the  flesh  and  the  nerves.  We  must  not  be  so 
concerned  about  the  raiment  as  about  the  welfare  of 
the  body."t  Clement  then  adduces  the  true  saying 
of  Pythagoras,  that  the  muses  must  be  preferred  to  the 
syrens.J  He  is  anxious  that  truth  should  not  be 
bedecked  and  bedizened  like  a  courtesan,  but  clothed 
in  the  simple  and  chaste  beauty  which  is  her  fitting 
garb.  He  says,  we  must  eschew  in  our  words  all 
elaborate  and  vain  ornaments,  as  the  Spartans  pro- 
scribed perfumes  and  purple  robes.     Seasoning  is  not 

*  "  Strom.,"  I.  i.  §  16. 

t  SojQfjvai  yap  tv  old'  on  icai  avvapaaQai  toXq  otl)Z,iodai  yXixoutvoig 
P'iXtio-tov  tOTiv,  ov%i  ovvQ&vai  to.  \t%uha  KaOcnrtp  to.  Kvaj.ua.  (Ibid., 
x.  §  48.) 

+  Moiiaag  2eip>)vujv,  i)ciovg  r)yi7o9ai.      (Ibid.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       277 

nourishment ;  a  discourse  which  aims  rather  to  please 
than  to  instruct,  is  an  ill-prepared  repast.  "  Let  us 
beware,"  he  says  again,  "of  making  broad  our  phy- 
lacteries in  the  love  of  vain-glory.  To  the  truly  wise, 
one  disciple  is  enough."* 

Though  thus  rejecting  all  superfluous  ornament, 
Clement  writes  in  a  style  both  animated  and  brilliant. 
He  has  not  the  great,  grand  eloquence  of  the  classic 
ages,  and  in  spite  of  his  very  earnest  endeavour,  oicen 
fails  to  be  simple.  He  has  not  the  creative  imagination 
which  spontaneously  produces  sublime  symbols.  He 
has  rather  an  erudite  imagination,  and  borrows  the 
striking  images,  with  which  his  writings  abound,  more 
often  from  the  large  stores  of  his  learning  than  from 
the  book  of  nature.  Profoundly  versed  in  the  religious 
and  philosophical  systems  and  literary  treasures  of 
antiquity,  he  perpetually  strikes  bright  flashes  of  light 
from  the  rapid  contact  of  ideas,  myths,  and  poetical  utter- 
ances, which  cross  and  combine  in  the  current  of  his 
thoughts.  He  lives  much  more  in  this  artificial  world, 
created  by  an  advanced  civilisation,  than  in  the  outer 
world,  the  fresh  beauties  of  which  entrance  young  or  re- 
juvenated nations,  and  live  again  in  their  language  and 
in  the  best  days  of  their  poetry.  The  metaphorical 
style  of  Clement  is  a  complicated  tissue  of  allusions, 
borrowed  from  the  old  philosophical  and  poetical 
traditions  of  mankind.  In  this  aspect  he  is  thoroughly 
Alexandrian,  but  he  stands  wholly  apart  from  the  pagan 
philosophers  of  his  age,  in  the  fervour  which  glows 
through  all  his  erudition.  If  the  statue  is  composed  of 
divers  metals,  it  is  not  the  less  an  animated  statue.  All 
the  various  elements  which  he  holds  in  combination, 
are  fused  in  the  fire  of  his  own  ardent  conviction, 
*  "  Strom.,"  I.  x.  §  48. 


278  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  whether  he  speaks  of  Orpheus  or  of  Pythagoras, 
whether  he  quotes  Homer  or  Plato,  he  is  ever  the 
faithful  worshipper  of  the  Eternal  Word.  His  style,  in 
its  wealth  and  diversity,  is  only  the  reproduction  of  the 
wealth  and  variety  of  his  thought.  This  very  abundance 
and  erudition  render  him  sometimes  obscure  ;  and  this 
obscurity  is  not  unwelcome  to  him,  since  it  hides  from 
the  gaze  of  the  vulgar,  mysteries  which  they  could  not 
comprehend.  He  desires  to  admit  them  only  to  the 
threshold  of  the  temple,  the  inner  sanctuary  of  which 
they  would  defile  by  their  presence,  and  he  thinks  thus 
to  secure  the  advantages  of  esoteric  teaching,  without 
avowing  its  principle,  which  in  its  aristocratic  ex- 
clusiveness  is  so  opposed  to  the  Gospel.  He  sought,  to 
use  his  own  words,  to  half  conceal  while  he  revealed, 
to  veil  the  highest  mysteries  of  truth  while  he  disclosed 
them,  and  to  point  to  them  in  silence.*  He  desired 
that  his  disciples  should  put  forth  vigorous  efforts 
to  master  the  truth.  He  would  that  they  should,  as 
it  were,  walk  up  and  down  within  the  enclosure  of 
his  teaching,  as  in  a  well-planted  garden,  but  that  if 
they  should  find  themselves  therein  as  in  a  waste 
and  untilled  place,  they  should  search  for  the  truth 
by  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  or  as  men  seek  for  a  rose 
among  thorns. t 

The  writings  of  Clement,  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  sufficiently  indicate  the  subjects  to  which 
his  teaching  was  directed.  The  "  Exhortation  to  the 
Gentiles "  is  a  treatise  purely  apologetic,  in  which 
he  endeavours  to  show  that  faith  in  the  Word  is  the 
end  of  all  earnest  researches  after  truth,  as  well  as 
the  response  to  all  the  unquiet  yearnings  of  the 
heart,  if  only  the  heart  be  purged  from  the  pollutions 
*  "  Strom./'  I.  i.  §  15.  f  Ibid.,  ii.  §  21. 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        279 

of  pagan  life.  The  "  Pedagogue  "  is  an  admirable 
moral  treatise,  in  which  the  ideal  of  the  true  Christian 
is  traced  in  all  its  features,  the  soft  and  the  stern,  with- 
out any  colouring  of  exaggerated  asceticism.  The  noble 
treatise  entitled,  "  How  can  a  rich  man  be  saved  ?" 
belongs  to  the  same  category.  The  "  Stromata,"  or 
"  Tapestries,"  are  medleys  of  religious  philosophy., 
The  author  introduces  his  book  to  us  as  a  fair  and 
fertile  hill-side  refreshed  with  the  dew  of  heaven  ;  it  is 
covered  with  rich  herbage  and  plane-trees,  laurels 
and  olives.  It  is  a  nursery  where  the  trees  to  be 
transplanted  must  be  carefully  chosen  out.*  Questions 
of  morals,  metaphysics,  and  dialectics,  are  treated  in  it 
promiscuously;  but  Clement's  true  thoughts  come  out 
all  the  more  clearly  and  vividly  from  this  intentional 
confusion.  The  "  Hypotyposes"  (Sketches),  of  which 
we  possess  only  some  fragments,  were  conceived  on 
the  same  plan  as  the  "  Stromata."  Clement  is  also 
known  to  have  written  on  the  prophecies,  and  to  have 
been  the  author  of  an  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of 
Valentine,  of  treatises  upon  Easter,  upon  the  rule 
of  faith,  upon  Montanism  and  Judaism.?  This  imper- 
fect catalogue  of  his  writings,  shows  that  all  the 
questions  of  the  day  came  under  his  notice.  The 
breadth  of  his  spirit  made  him  more  than  one  enemy. 
He  mentions  in  his  works  one  narrow-minded  and 
obtuse  individual,  who  took  alarm  at  his  boldness,  and 
who  was  especially  indignant  that  he  should  seek  any 
support  for  the  Gospel  in  Greek  philosophy.  "I  know," 
he  says,  "  the  murmurings  of  certain  souls,  timid 
through  ignorance,*  who   assert  that    it    is    necessary 

*  "  Strom..''  VIII.  xviii.  §111. 

-f-  The  best  edition  of  his  writings  is  that  of  J.  Potter,  Oxford, 
1715.  We  quote  Clement  from  the  edition  in  Vol  iv  «*  +^~ 
"  Ribliothera  Sacra."  Leipsic,  1831. 


280  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

to  concentrate  attention  solely  on  essentials,  on  those 
things  which  relate  directly  to  the  faith,  and  to  take  no 
heed  of  anything  beyond,  since  all  else  is  vanity,  and 
has  neither  use  nor  end.  Some  even  go  so  far  as 
to  say  that  philosophy  is  an  invention  of  the  Evil  One, 
wickedly  suggested  to  man  for  his  perdition.  These 
'  Stromata'  will  show,  on  the  contrary,  that  philo- 
sophy also  is  a  creation  of  the  Divine  Providence." 
We  do  not  know  how  much  Clement  had  to  suffer  from 
this  narrow  and  intolerant  party,  but  we  do  know 
that  the  murmurings  of  opposition,  so  far  from  being 
silenced  by  his  vigorous  refutal,  went  on  rising  to 
a  higher  pitch,  till  their  voice  ^was  heard  echoing 
abroad  in  a  mighty  anathema.  This  is  the  faction 
which  drove  away  from  Alexandria  the  successor  of 
Clement,  and  the  most  illustrious  representative  of  his 
school — the  great  Origen. 

In  spite  of  all  opposition,  the  teaching  of  Clement 
exerted  a  weighty  influence  on  his  age.  He  gathered 
around  him  a  crowd  of  eager  disciples,  and  like 
Pantsenus,  had  the  happiness  of  knowing  that  his 
work  would  be  continued  and  developed  in  the 
spirit  in  which  he  had  commenced  it.  We  have  a 
striking  proof  of  the  consideration  which  he  never 
ceased  to  enjoy,  in  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding 
the  opposition  of  his  enemies,  he  was  raised  to  the 
post  of  elder,  and  took  part  in  the  guidance  of  the 
Church.t 

He  thought  it,  nevertheless,  his  duty  to  leave 
Alexandria,  when  persecution  burst  forth  afresh  under 
Septimus  Severus.     He  had  always  avowed  moderate 

*  Ov  \t\i]Q(v  dk  fie  icai  tu  OpvXovfitva.  TrpoQ  nvwv  apaOiut;  \po<poctwv, 
Xp/?vat  XtyovTiov  Tripi  ret  dvayKcuorara  KarayivzoQai,  rd  $k  t^wdiv  teal 
-KtpiTTa  virepfiaivtiv.     ("  Strom.,"   I.  i.  §  1 8.) 

t  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  xxxviii. 


BOOK  II.— THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   28l 

views  with  regard  to  martyrdom.  He  in  no  way 
depreciated  its  value,  but  he  did  not  think  any  man 
ought  to  seek  it  voluntarily.  He  held  that  the 
signal  from  God  should  be  calmly  awaited,  and  that, 
following  the  precept  of  Christ,  men  persecuted  in 
one  city  should  flee  to  another,  if  they  could  do  "so 
without  being  untrue  to  the  faith.  He  severely  blames 
that  which  he  calls  the  unseemly  impatience  for  death, 
shown  by  the  enthusiasts  who  courted  martyrdom. 
Their  death,  he  says,  is  not  martyrdom  but  suicide, 
and  they  are  like  the  Indian  gymnosophists,  who  kindle 
their  own  funeral  pile.*  Acting  on  these  convictions, 
Clement,  in  the  year  202,  during  the  storm  of  persecu- 
tion in  the  East,  sought  an  asylum  with  Alexander, 
Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  He  died  a.d.  220,  after  a  life  in 
which  he  consistently  realised  his  own  type  of  the  true 
and  wise  Christian,  the  evangelical  Gnostic,  whose 
portrait  he  delighted  to  draw\  Severe  in  manners,  and 
even  in  garb,  an  austere  Christian  without  being  a 
violent  ascetic,  of  large  mind  and  broad  sympathies, 
responsive  to  all  the  pure  aspirations  of  the  human 
conscience,  a  devoted  worshipper  of  the  Word,  in  whom 
he  had  found  the  fulness  of  truth,  yet  not  ashamed 
to  stoop  to  gather  out  of  the  dust  and  mire  any  grain 
of  pure  gold,  which  he  saw  half  buried  there  ;  desiring 
no  other  wisdom  than  the  folly  of  Christ  apprehended 
by  faith,  but  discerning  in  that  folly  all  the  treasures 
of  Divine  wisdom  and  knowledge  ;  at  once  humble 
and  independent,  and  having  at  command,  as  the 
medium  of  his  thoughts,  language  pliant  and  exact, 
bearing  the  double  impress  of  his  own  character  and 
the  character  of  his  age  ;  —  such  was  Clement  of 
Alexandria.     He    possessed   in    highest    measure   that 


10 


282  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

essential  qualification  of  an  apologist,  of  being  entirely 
in  sympathy  with  his  time,  and  yet  able,  by  the  superior 
power  of  Divine  truth,  to  lead  and  mould  it.  He  became 
all  things  to  all  men  without  concession  and  without 
compromise. 

§  II.   Origen. 

The  name  which  shed  highest  lustre  on  the  Church 
of  Alexandria  \vas  that  of  Origen — a  name  long  al- 
ternating, in  the  judgment  of  history,  between  highest 
praise  and  deepest  blame,  now  revered,  now  accursed, 
but  great  alike  amidst  blessing  and  cursing.  Origen  is 
one  of  the  latest  representatives  of  the  age  of  faith  and 
freedom.  He  stands  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  era,  in 
which  a  uniform  system  of  theology  will  be  imposed 
on  minds  the  most  diverse,  and  narrow  limits  will 
be  set  to  Christian  speculation.  It  was  his  misfortune 
to  live  in  an  intermediate  age,  when  he  might  suppose 
that  freedom  of  inquiry  within  the  circle  of  the 
Christian  faith  was  a  consecrated  right,  and  might 
easily  ignore  the  fact,  that  a  strong  counter-revolution 
was  in  process,  and  was  carrying  with  it  the  rising 
tide  of  public  opinion.  It  is  this  position  in  which  he 
was  placed,  which  constitutes  the  melancholy  interest, 
and  prepares,  as  it  were,  the  drama  of  his  life.  It  was 
a  position  that  must  have  been  full  of  peril  and  temp- 
tation to  a  heart  less  steadfast  than  Origen's,  since 
it  would  have  been  so  easy  to  sink  into  cowardly 
submission,  or  be  stirred  up  to  violent  reaction.  Origen 
never  deviated  from  his  own  straight  course;  he  neither 
bowed  under  the  yoke,  which  he  felt  to  be  an  unrighteous 
one,  nor  shook  off  lawful  authority.  He  never  abdicated 
the  independence  which  was  his  right,  and  never 
sought  such  independence  as  would  have  led  him  into 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        283 

heresy.  He  courageously  pursued  his  way,  turning 
neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left,  ever  patient 
and  undaunted,  free  from  weakness  and  free  from 
passion.  His  errors  were  grave,  hut  none  of  them 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  cut  him  off  from  the  common 
faith  of  the  Church ;  he  should  have  heen  refuted,  not 
excommunicated.  His  errors  were  in  any  case  less 
fraught  with  danger,  than  the  pretensions  of  his  ad- 
versaries to  decide  by  force  of  authority  on  questions 
so  delicate.  If  he  erred  on  such  and  such  a  particular 
point  of  doctrine,  he  yet  remains,  after  all,  the  cham- 
pion of  the  good  cause,  the  defender  of  lawful  liberty, 
attainted  and  condemned  in  his  person.  Christian 
liberty  could  not  have  found  a  nobler  champion,  or 
have  suffered  in  the  person  of  a  more  honourable  or 
worthy  representative. 

Origen  was  born  at  Alexandria  in  the  sixth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Commodus,  a.d.  185.*  His  name  was 
derived  from  Or,  or  Orus,  which  was  that  of  an  ancient 
god  of  the  country ;  the  proofs  of  indomitable  firmness 
which  he  constantly  gave,  won  for  him  the  surname 
of  "  Adamantius,"  or  the  man  of  brass.  His  parents 
were  Christians. t  They  made  no  more  concession  to 
paganism  in  giving  their  son  the  very  common  name 
of  a  god  of  the  country,  than  we  make  in  still  calling 
the  days  of  the  week  by  their  pagan  designation.  They 
enjoyed    a    certain    competence,    for   his    family    only 

*  Our  principal  authority  is  his  own  writings,  which  we 
quote  from  the  Deiarue  edition.  The  Sixth  Book  of  Eusebius' 
Ecclesiastical  History  contains  a  very  interesting  biography  of 
Origen.  The  panegyric  of  Pamphylus,  the  farewell  discourse 
of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  to  Origen,  may  also  be  consulted. 
The  best  German  monograph  is  that  of  Redepenning,  in  two 
volumes. 

f  'l'(>j  yap  'Qpiykvu  rd  riJQ  Kara  Xpioruv  di£a<jKa\iag  Ik  7rpoy6v(jJV  lacj^tro. 

(Eusebius,  "  H.  E,"  VI.  xix.) 


284  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

became  poor  after  the  confiscation  of  their  goods, 
which  followed  on  the  imprisonment  of  the  head  of  the 
house.*  Leonides,  the  father  of  Origen,  was  a  man  of 
approved  piety,  and  of  a  large  and  lofty  mind,  as  is 
proved  by  his  tolerance  for  the  ardent  curiosity  of  his 
son.  The  young  man,  endowed  with  a  nature  at  once 
deep  and  intense,  found  himself  placed  in  the  most 
favourable  conditions  for  its  development.  Everything 
tended  to  stimulate  the  intellect  in  that  brilliant  city, 
rich  in  the  collected  treasures  of  ancient  culture,  and 
incessantly  echoing  with  the  subtle  and  learned  dis- 
cussions of  the  philosophers. 

Origen  attended  the  schools  open  to  studious  youths. 
The  young  Christians  were  free  to  resort  to  these 
without  exciting  astonishment,  thanks  to  the.  tolerance 
produced  by  an  unbounded  eclecticism.  The  Church 
was  enjoying  a  transitory  calm,  which  it  owed  to  the 
indifference  to  religion  of  the  son  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 
There  was  therefore  no  obstacle  to  the  liberal  educa- 
tion of  Origen.  He  could  study  without  hindrance  the 
so-called  encyclical  or  preparatory  sciences,  which 
included  geometry,  arithmetic,  and  grammar.  But  it 
was  chiefly  beneath  the  paternal  roof  that  he  found 
the  food  of  his  moral  life.  Leonides  had  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  high  vocation  of  a  Christian  father.  He 
regarded  himself  as  the  priest  of  his  house,  and  he 
deputed  to  no  one  the  charge  of  cultivating  the  mind 
and  heart  of  his  son.  He  read  the  Gospel  with  him, 
and  made  him  commit  a  portion  to  memory  every 
day.  After  the  reading,  they  had  a  free  talk  together 
over  it  ;  and  Origen  very  early  gave  tokens  of  that 
eager  thirst  for  knowledge  which  nothing  could  quench, 
and   which  was  the  ruling   passion  of  his  life.       Not 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.E.,"  VI.  ii. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   285 

content  with  the  first  explanations  given  him,  he  pur- 
sued his  investigations  with  a  bold  simplicity.  He 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  the  literal  meaning  of 
the  Scriptures,  but  was  always  seeking  a  deep  and 
hidden  sense.* 

His  father  endeavoured  to  keep  within  bounds  this 
young  and  buoyant  mind,  which  in  its  very  first  at- 
tempts at  flight  left  him  so  far  behind.  He  could  not 
help  admiring,  yet  he  trembled  at  the  noble  daring 
of  the  boy,  and  while  he  sought  to  keep  so  perilous 
a  power  in  due  control,  he  blessed  God  for  the  gift  of 
such  a  son.  He  felt  that  this  zeal  and  earnestness 
could  not  be  attributed  to  mere  intellectual  curiosity  ; 
that  they  must  have  their  source  in  a  soul  penetrated 
with  the  love  of  truth.  The  young  Origen  scorned  all 
that  which  ensnares  and  captivates  the  senses,  all  the 
attractions  that  might  have  charmed  and  led  him  away 
in  a  capital  city  rich  and  splendid  as  Alexandria  ;  he 
lived  only  for  the  unseen,  and  bent  upon  the  highest 
truths  and  grandest  mysteries,  the  powers  of  a  quick 
imagination,  and  a  deeply  thoughtful  mind.  He  thus 
gave  all  his  faculties  to  Christianity  in  the  first  bloom 
of  their  freshness  and  beauty,  and  he  inspired  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  him,  with  that  tender  respect, 
which  is  ever  felt  for  a  youth  keeping  himself  pure  in 
the  midst  of  corruption  and  scepticism.  More  than 
once  his  father,  bending  over  the  boy  as  he  lay  asleep, 
would  kiss  his  bare  breast,  the  sanctuary  (as  he  felt)  of 
the  spirit  of  God.t 

Origen's  faith  was  nurtured  in  the  Church  as  well 
as  in  the  home.     Christian  worship  at  Alexandria  was 

*  'Qg  fl>)  0     'cidOKtlv  civto)    Tar   arr\ur    kci'i    -iTf)0\iipovQ   tu>v  lipu>v  \6y£jv 

brtv&iQ, £jiTeiv  St  ri  ~\ioi>.     (Eusebius,  "  H.E.,"  VI.  ii.j 
f  "QuTttp  r,i  Otiuu  TTViuixaroQ  ivcov.     (Ibid.) 


286  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

a  thing  of  much  beauty.  Nowhere  else  were  the 
public  prayers  so  poetically  rich  and  full,  as  we  see 
from  the  liturgical  documents  of  the  time.  The  forms 
of  adoration  wrere  grand  and  solemn,  though  also 
striking  in  their  simplicity.  It  is  pleasant  to  follow 
the  young  Origen  in  thought  into  those  daily  assemblies, 
where  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  like  the  woman  in  the 
Gospel,  broke  over  the  feet  of  Christ  a  vase  of  very 
precious  ointment,  in  the  offering  of  adoring  praise, 
which  their  full  hearts  poured  forth  in  an  ever-flowing, 
ever-fragrant  stream.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  Origen  had  been  received  to  the  Lord's  Supper 
before  the  death  of  his  father.  That  service  was  a  deeply 
impressive  one,  and  might  well  leave  a  track  of  fire  in 
so  susceptible  a  soul. 

Origen  also  listened  at  this  period  to  the  two 
illustrious  catechists,  his  predecessors,  Pantsenus  and 
Clement ;  *  these  exerted  a  mighty  influence  over  him. 
He  was  predestined  by  natural  disposition  to  be  their 
most  faithful  disciple.  He  found  in  .their  teaching,  that 
depth  and  subtlety  of  exposition,  which  met  the  crav- 
ings of  his  soul  from  childhood  upwards,  for  other 
interpretations  of  Scripture  than  the  simple  commen- 
taries of  his  father.  The  attempt  made  by  these 
illustrious  teachers  to  harmonise  science  and  faith,  was 
the  response  to  his  most  ardent  aspirations.  It  was  an 
inestimable  privilege  for  such  a  mind  as  his  to  meet 
with  a  master  like  Clement,  who  had  at  that  time  the 
ascendant  over  him  of  great  moral  and  intellectual 
superiority.  He  formed  a  close  friendship  with  a  young 
fellow-disciple  from  Asia  Minor,  who  had  come  to  hear 

*  It  is  Alexander  who  tells  us  that  Origen  had  listened  with  him 
to  Pantamus  and  Clement  :   TiaApag  yap  iofiev,  he  says,  in  speaking 
of   himself  and  Origen,  rovg  (naicapiovg    htivoug    rovg  7rpooetii<juvTa 
Yiavraivov  kci\  KXr'iLitvra.      (Eusebius,  "  H.E.,"  VI.  xiv.j 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   287 

Clement.  This  was  Alexander,  subsequently  Bishop 
of  Jerusalem,  who  was  to  prove  a  valuable  helper  to 
Origen  when  evil  days  came. 

This  threefold  education  in  the  family,  the  school, 
and  the  Church,  had  given  Origen  an  early  maturity, 
without,  however,  chilling  his  youthful  ardour.  God 
had  yet  in  reserve  for  him  sterner  and  more  painful 
teaching.  The  fierce  persecution  which  broke  out 
under  Septimus  Severus  made  cruel  ravages  at  Alex- 
andria. Origen's  father  was  thrown  into  prison.  It 
was  a  sore  separation  between  him  and  the  son  who 
was  bound  to  him  by  such  tender  ties,  both  as  a  child 
and  as  a  Christian.  Origen's  soul  was  torn  between 
his  deep  love  for  his  father,  and  his  desire  to  see  him 
steadfast  and  immovable  in  the  faith.  Knowing  the 
tenderness  of  his  fatherly  heart,  and  fearing  lest  his 
courage  should  give  way  in  the  struggle,  Origen 
addressed  to  the  captive  in  his  cell  those  heroic  words, 
over  which  doubtless  the  hot  tears  fell  fast  :  "  My 
father,  flinch  not  because  of  us."*  Passionately  he 
longed  to  be  with  him,  and  to  die  at  his  side,  confessing 
the  faith  ;  a  yearning  for  martyrdom  took  possession  of 
his  soul.  This  was,  perhaps,  a  sort  of  safety-valve  for 
his  youthful  impetuousness.  In  vain  his  mother  with 
tears  entreated  him  to  have  pity  on  her  ;  nothing  could 
move  him.  The  young  Christian  soldier  could  not 
rest  upon  his  arms  while  the  battle  was  raging 
around.  His  mother  was  obliged  to  hide  his  clothes 
to  prevent  his  rushing  upon  death. t  This  was  the 
strongest  temptation,  the  highest  ambition  of  his 
early  years.  He  had  yet  to  le^arn  that  the  courage 
of  patient  obedience  is  the  most  real  of  all  courage, 
and  that    no    man    has    a    right    to   anticipate    God's 

*  "E-nrfxf,  no  tV  rifiae  a\\o  ti  fpovi'iayg.    (Euscbius,  "  H.E.,"  VI.  ii.) 
t  Eusebius,  "  H.E.,"  VI.  ii. 


238  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

time.  Leonides  was  put  to  death  ;  his  goods  were 
confiscated,  and  his  family,  thus  suddenly  deprived  of 
its  head,  was  plunged  into  distress.*  A  youth  of 
eighteen  was  the  sole  support  of  his  mother  ;  but  this  . 
young  man  had  courage  and  devotedness  equal  to  his 
task,  and  to  other  duties  yet  harder  and  higher  lying 
beyond. 

Origen  found  a  temporary  home  with  a  rich  lady  of 
Alexandria,  who  loved  him  with  all  but  a  mother's  love. 
Unhappily,  she  was  strongly  inclined  to  heresy,  and 
had  become  ensnared  by  the  brilliant  and  sophistical 
teaching  of  one  of  those  Asiatic  gnostics,  who  never 
scrupled  to  use  intrigue  and  craft  to  ensure  the 
ascendancy  of  their  doctrine.  They  were  wont 
especially  to  put  forth  all  their  art  to  lead  away  the 
susceptible  souls  of  women.  Paul  (such  was  the  name 
of  this  heretical  teacher)  was  not  a  man  who  erred  in 
good  faith  on  some  secondary  point  of  Christian  truth. 
He  was  one  of  those  dangerous  heretics,  who  under- 
mined Christianity  under  pretext  of  interpreting  it, 
who  borrowed  its  language,  but  despoiled  it  of  all  its 
moral  and  religious  significance,  transfusing  it  with 
oriental  dualism  and  fatalistic  pantheism.  Origen, 
though  his  mind  was  open  to  receive  all  opinions,  and 
never  recoiled  from  the  investigation  of  any  system, 
did  not  fall  for  one  moment  under  the  seductive 
influence  of  the  heretic  Paul.  Neither  gratitude 
towards  his  benefactress,  nor  the  reckless  daring  of  the 
youthful  mind,  could  lead  him  one  step  in  this  direction. 
He  preserved  towards  Paul  an  attitude  of  severe 
dignity.  He  would  not  join  with  him  in  any  act  of 
piety,  because  he  knew  how  easy  it  is  to  conceal  mortal 
error  under  pious  phrase,  and  equivocation  in  prayer 
*  "  Pauper  relinquitur  "  (St  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  liv.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   289 

appeared  to  him  hateful.-1''  That  which  was  especially 
repugnant  to  Origen  in  the  bold  speculations  of 
Gnosticism,  was  the  complete  suppression  of  the  moral 
element,  and  the  formal  negation  of  liberty  in  God  and 
man.  To  these  vivid  impressions  received  in  youth, 
we  may  attribute  the  sometimes  exaggerated  reaction 
in  an  opposite  direction,  by  which  the  system  of  Origen 
is  characterised.  In  conniving  at  heresy,  he  would 
have  felt  he  was  denying  the  God  for  whom  his  father 
had  died,  and  he  shrunk  with  horror  from  apostasy  in 
all  its  forms,  whether  open  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
magistrates,  or  lurking  latent  in  the  complacent  smile 
and  tacit  approval  of  error  at  the  table  of  a  rich  and 
benevolent  lady. 

As  Origen  was  not  willing  long  to  live  in  dependence 
upon  any  one,  and  anxious  to  free  himself  from  the 
protection  of  a  house  where  heresy  was  held  in  honour, 
he  endeavoured  to  earn  his  bread  by  giving  lessons  in 
grammar.  Grammar  was  at  that  time  cultivated  in 
Alexandria  with  much  success.  By  the  development 
given  to  it,  it  had  become  a  really  new  science,  and  one 
remarkably  adapted  to  the  subtle  and  erudite  spirit  of 
an  age,  in  which  analysis  was  more  and  more  taking 
the  place  of  inspiration.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that 
grammar  was  studied  simply  as  the  constructive  genius 
of  a  language ;  it  embraced  also  the  interpretation  of 
its  literary  master-pieces,  the  determination  of  their 
genuineness,  and  even  mythology  and  aesthetics.  It 
was  a  learned  exegesis  of  classical  literature.  Origen, 
in  teaching  it,  prepared  himself  by  such  studies  for  the 
exegesis  of  sacred  literature,  in  which,  in  spite  of 
serious  errors,   he  was  to   occupy   so  eminent  a  place. 

*  Ovc't  TTUJiroTi  Trpavrpuin]  Kara  t>)v  tu-£t)v  avnp  avarijini.  (KusebillS, 
"H.  E.,"  VI.  ii.) 


290      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

He  was  not,  indeed,  the  man  to  devote  himself  exclu- 
sively to  purely  literary  instruction.  His  faith  was  too 
living  not  to  be  diffusive,  and  he  could  not  but  strive 
to  impart  to  his  pupils  his  own  most  cherished  con- 
victions. The  School  of  the  Catechists  was  at  this  time 
dispersed.  Clement  had  retired  into  Asia  Minor. 
Persecution  had  not  stifled  the  desire  after  truth  ;  on 
the  contrary,  it  had,  as  it  always  did,  given  it  a  new 
stimulus,  and  noble  hearts  were  more  inclined  than  in 
times  of  quiescence,  towards  the  proscribed  religion. 
No  one  offered  himself  to  carry  on  the  great  work 
thus  interrupted.  Origen,  actuated  only  by  his  zeal, 
took  it  up  in  humble  measure,  contenting  himself  with 
giving  private  instructions  to  some  pagans,  who  had 
probably  attended  his  course  of  grammar.  Among 
these  were  Plutarch,  and  Heraclas,  subsequently  Bishop 
of  Alexandria.  It  seems  that  these  pagans  were  the 
first  to  ask  the  young  teacher  to  instruct  them  in  the 
Word  of  God,  for  Eusebius  says  that '  they  came  to 
Origen  of  their  own  accord.*  Demetrius,  the  Bishop 
of  Carthage,  recognised  the  Divine  approval  in  the 
success  which  attended  the  teaching  of  Origen,  and 
conferred  on  him,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  the  charge  of 
catechist.  A  young  man  of  eighteen  thus  found  himself 
the  successor  of  Clement. 

This  phase  of  the  life  of  Origen  is  full  of  beauty. 
Persecution  had  been  revived  under  a  new  proconsul, 
and  every  day  cruel  tortures  were  inflicted  on  the 
Christians.  To  teach  the  new  religion  in  such  times, 
was  to  place  life  every  moment  in  jeopardy.  Over 
the  heads  of  masters  and  disciples  was  perpetually 
suspended  the  glittering  sword,  and  it  was  with  the 

*  UpoGTjt  oav  ai/T(p  rivtg  curb  rCJv  tOvuiv  aKovo6f.if.voi  rbv  Xoyov  tov 
Oiov.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  ii.J 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        201 

dungeon  and  the  stake  full  in  view  that  they  discoursed 
of  the  great  questions  of  religion.  Their  discussions  were 
not  held  in  spacious  courts  or  sumptuous  villas.  The 
little  school  met  secretly,  in  some  obscure  dwelling,  and 
always  exposed  to  the  danger  of  being  surprised  and  led 
away  to  death.  What  a  sublime  theology  was  that  on 
which  there  thus  fell  the  flame  of  the  sacrifice  ever  ready 
to  be  offered !  If  ever  the  name  of  philosophy  was  well 
deserved,  it  assuredly  was  so  by  these  young  disciples 
at  Alexandria,  who  loved  wisdom  well  enough  to  die  for 
her,  though  many  of  them  perhaps  had  caught  but  dim 
and  transient  glimpses  of  the  truth.  This  school  of 
martyr-theologians  witnessed  constant  breaches  in  its 
ranks ;  between  two  meetings,  between  two  chapters  of 
the  same  study,  one  and  another  catechist  had  been 
seized  and  sacrificed.  The  heart  glows  with  admira- 
tion Tor  these  young  adherents  of  the  new  faith,  who, 
under  a  master  even  younger  than  themselves,  pursued, 
in  the  midst  of  such  daunting  difficulties,  the  search 
after  truth,  who  remained  faithful  to  the  liberal  and 
enlightened  spirit  of  the  school  of  Alexandria,  and  kept 
their  minds  free  from  all  passionate  resentment;  whom 
not  even  the  ruthless  persecution  under  which  they 
suffered,  could  bring  to  regard  paganism  as  merely  a 
hateful  and  murderous  foe,  but  who  still  viewed  it  as  in 
many  aspects  the  harbinger  of  the  religion  it  sought  to 
destroy.  It  required  a  rare  nobility  of  soul  and  spirit 
to  cleave  to  the  liberal  theology  of  Clement  through 
all  the  horrors  of  the  proscription.  A  mere  question  of 
doctrine  and  system  was  raised  under  such  circum- 
stances to  the  moral  height  of  loftiest  disinterestedness. 
The  example  of  Origen  was  of  much  force  in  sustaining 
the  courage  of  his  disciples.  He  might  be  seen  con- 
stantly in  the  prison  of  the  pious  captives,  carrying  to 


292  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

them  the  consolation  they  needed.  He  stood  by  them 
till  the  last  moment  of  trial  came,  and  gave  them  the 
parting  kiss  of  peace  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  arena 
or  at  the  foot  of  the  stake.*  More  than  once  the  irritated 
mob  were  on  the  point  of  stoning  him,  and  he  escaped 
only  by  a  miracle.  "  The  hatred  of  the  pagans,"  says 
Eusebius,  "  was  so  violent,  because  of  the  numbers 
who  learned  from  Origen  the  mysteries  of  the  faith, 
that  they  were  seen  assembled  in  crowds  around  the 
house  where  he  lived,  trying  to  stir  up  the  soldiers  to 
violence.  So  fierce  was  the  enmity  against  him,  that 
no  house  in  Alexandria  was  a  secure  refuge  for  him, 
and  he  was  constantly  pursued  by  the  persecutors  from 
place  to  place."  t  One  day,  when  he  had  accompanied 
to  the  place  of  execution  his  disciple  Plutarch,  con- 
demned to  death  as  a  Christian,  he  narrowly  escaped  a 
summary  and  violent  death  at  the  hands  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  who  charged  him  with  being  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  the  young  martyr. J  Another  day  he  was 
seized  and  dragged  to  the  temple  of  Serapis,  where 
palms  were  thrust  into  his  hands  to  be  laid,  according 
to  custom,  upon  the  altar  of  the  Egyptian  god. 
Brandishing  the  boughs,  he  exclaimed  :  "  Here  are  the 
triumphal  palms,  not  of  the  idol,  but  of  Christ !  "  § 

In  the  midst  of  such  imminent  perils,  Origen  never- 
theless steadily  pursued  his  course  of  teaching  and 
his  studies.  His  thirst  for  knowledge  was  insatiable  ; 
letters  sacred  and  profane,  the  systems  of  every  school, 
all  received  his  attention;  all  were  passed  under  a 
scrutiny  quick  and  eager,  as  was  the  conviction  which 
inspired  all  his  investigations  and  his  entire  life.     It  is 

*  Tovg  fxapTvpag  fxera  7ro\\rjg  rrappricriag  0tX»//iart  Trpocayopi.voi>ra. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E,"  VI.  iii.)  f  Ibid.  %  Ibid. 

§  Epiphanes,  "  Heresies,"  lxiv. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   293 

evident  from  his  writings  that  he  went  on  amassing 
knowledge  through  all  this  troubled  period.  He 
rendered  himself  familiar  with  the  ecclesiastical 
writers,  whom  he  quotes  with  ease  and  without 
pedantry.  He  devoted  himself  finally  to  philosophy, 
so  as  to  rise  to  the  dignity  of  a  task,  which  became 
every  day  more  arduous  through  the  character  of  the 
affluent  and  lettered  heretics  who  thronged  to  hear 
him.  "  When  I  had  given  myself  entirely,"  he  says, 
"to  the  Word  of  God,  and  when  the  reputation  of  my 
learning  had  spread  abroad,  a  great  number  of  heretics, 
men  versed  in  the  sciences  of  Greece,  and  especially  in 
philosophy,  came  to  listen  to  me.  I  thought  it  then  my 
duty  to  study  thoroughly  the  dogmas  of  the  heretics, 
and  all  of  truth  that  the  philosophers  laid  claim  to 
tell."  *  He  subsequently  took  a  more  decisive  step  in 
this  direction,  by  attending  the  school  of  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  philosophers  of  the  age. 

No  intellectual  studies  diverted  Origen  from  that 
which  he  held  of  supreme  importance — the  pursuit  of 
moral  perfection  and  the  realisation  of  the  Christian 
ideal.  It  was  almost  inevitable  that  this  ideal  should  as- 
sume at  this  period  in  Alexandria  the  form  of  asceticism. 
An  atmosphere  wholly  impregnated  with  Eastern  ideas 
could  not  be  breathed  with  impunity,  and  the  deserts 
presented  the  constant  spectacle  of  the  Therapeutics 
leading  a  life  of  extravagant  self-mortification.  Again, 
the  ascetic  tendency  was  upheld  in  uncontested  su- 
premacy in  the  metropolis  of  Egypt,  by  all  the  various 
systems  of  philosophy,  or  rather,  it  was  an  element 
common  to  them  all,  and  rose  above  all  their  diversities. 
The  ancient  religion  of  the  country,  with  its  ineffable 

*  'Edo%ev  tZerarmi  re  rt  tCjv  aipiTiKvjv  Coy/jtara  Kai  rd  rutv  (pikoao^ujv. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E/'VI.xix.) 


294  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

sadness  and  preoccupation  with  the  thought  of  death, 
naturally  tended  to  foster  asceticism.  Asceticism  seemed 
also  to  supply  the  starting-point  for  the  religious  reno- 
vation after  which  men's  hearts  aspired.  The  Church 
in  Alexandria  could  not  escape  the  same  influence. 

We  may  observe,  however,  here,  that  the  Christians 
never,  in  their  most  extreme  self-mortifications,  admitted 
the  favourite  dogma  of  the  East — the  irremediable  doom 
of  the  material  element.  They  never  ceased  to  believe 
in  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  to  regard  reverently 
the  dust  which  was  one  day  to  be  changed  into  the 
glorious  temple  of  the  enfranchised  spirit.  Let  us  admit 
yet  further,  that  if  Christianity  does  not  seek  the  des- 
truction of  the  flesh,  it  does  nevertheless  require  its 
mortification ;  it  sanctions  and  counsels  an  asceticism, 
not  to  be  prescriptively  imposed,  but  induced  by  the 
free  impulse  of  individual  piety.  From  the  time  of  St. 
Paul,  it  has  been  practised  by  all  whose  souls  have 
grasped  the  grand  ideal  of  the  Christian  life.  Origen 
belonged  emphatically  to  this  company  of  elect  spirits. 
We  cannot  wonder,  then,  to  see  him  carrying  asceticism 
to  its  utmost  limits,  under  the  impulse  of  youthful 
ardour  and  under  the  influences  of  his  age  and  country. 
Anxious  to  escape  from  the  necessity  of  teaching 
grammar,  which  occupied  much  of  the  time  he  yearned 
to  devote  to  higher  studies  and  more  important  instruc- 
tions, Origen  sold  his  fine  classical  library,  consisting 
of  manuscripts  copied  with  his  own  hand,  for  a  sum 
of  four  oboli,  which  were  to  be  paid  to  him  by  daily 
instalments  to  provide  for  his  maintenance.*  He  ate 
only  enough  for  the  bare  sustenance  of  life,  submitted 
himself  to  long  and  rigorous  fastings,  and  spent  the 
greater  part  of  the  night  in  study,  especially  in  the  study 

*  Ttrrapaiv  6j3o\o~ig  rijg  t)nspag  rjpKtlTO.  (Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VI.  iii.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   295 

of  Holy  Scripture.*  He  allowed  himself  only  a  few 
hours  of  sleep,  and  his  bed  was  the  bare  earth.  He 
never  drank  wine,  and  walked  barefoot,  like  the  poorest 
individual,  in  the  streets  of  a  brilliant  and  literary  city, 
where  knowledge  was  the  path  to  wealth. t  No  entreaty 
of  his  pupils  could  induce  him  to  accept  any  payment 
even  from  the  richest;  he  declared  he  had  freely  received 
and  would  freely  give.  The  severity  of  his  life  was 
attested  by  his  threadbare  garments  and  by  his 
attenuated  features,  which  burned  with  the  spiritual 
fire  of  the  soul.  He  sought  to  carry  out  literally  the 
precept  of  Christ,  not  to  have  two  coats,  and  to  take 
no  thought  for  the  morrow.  This  implicit  obedience 
to  the  commands  of  the  Master  seemed  to  him  strictly 
obligatory  on  those  who  bear  the  high  responsibility 
of  teaching  His  doctrine.  Origen  has  laid  bare  his 
inmost  thoughts  on  this  subject  in  a  homily  upon 
Genesis  uttered  some  years  later.  "  Pharaoh,"  he  says, 
"gives  lands  to  his  priests;  God  gives  no  parcel  of 
ground  to  his,  but  says  to  them  :  /  am  your  portion. 
O  you  who  read  this  Scripture,  mark  it,  and  consider 
the  difference  between  the  two  priesthoods,  for  fear  that 
having  your  portion  upon  earth,  and  burdening  your- 
selves with  earthly  cares  and  interests,  you  be  the 
priests  of  Pharaoh  rather  than  of  God4  Pharaoh 
desires  that  his  priests  should  possess  lands,  that  they 
mav  give  themselves  to  the  cultivation  of  their  fields 

*  Tort  fikv  TOig  iv  uairaiQ  ynfivamoig  IvaffKOVfievog.  (Eliscbius,  "H.  E.," 
VI.  iii.) 

fMrjSevi  firiSafidc  KfxPVI'^l'°C   i'7roi)///<an,  dXXd  Kai    vivov   \pi\aiO)Q  ('itt- 

taxWn'°£-     (Ibid.) 

X  "  Observate  ergo  qui  hrcc  legitis,  omnes  Domini,  sacerdotes 
et  videte  quae  sit,  differentia  sacerdotum,  ne  forte  qui  partem 
"habent  in  terra  et  terrenis  cultibus  ac  studiis  vacant,  non  tarn 
Domini  quam  Tharaonis  sacerdotes  esse  videantur."  (Origen, 
"In  Gen.  Horn,"  xvi.  51.J 


296  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  possevSsions,  not  to  that  of  souls  and  of  the  Divine 
law.  Listen  to  that  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
enjoins  His  priests :  '  He  that  forsaketh  not  all  that 
he  hath,  cannot  be  my  disciple.'  I  tremble  as  I  repeat 
these  words.  It  is  myself,  aye  myself,  whom  I  accuse, 
and  I  speak  my  own  condemnation.*  Jesus  Christ 
rejects  as  His  disciple  him  who  possesses  anything,  and 
has  not  forsaken  all  that  he  had.  And  we,  what  are  we 
doing  ?  With  what  face  can  we  read  these  declarations 
ourselves  and  expound  them  to  the  people,  when  not 
only  have  we  not  renounced  all  that  we  have,  but  are 
even  anxious  to  acquire  more  than  we  possessed  before 
we  knew  Christ  ?  Condemned  as  we  are  by  our  own 
conscience,  have  we  the  right  to  be  silent  and  to  keep 
back  that  which  is  written  against  us?  No,  I  will  not 
aggravate  my  crime.  I  avow,  here  in  the  presence  of 
this  people, t  that  these  things  are  written,  even  though 
I  know  that  I  have  failed  to  carry  them  out.  But  after 
such  a  declaration,  let  us  make  haste  to  fulfil  them;  let 
us  press  out  of  the  ranks  of  the  priests  of  Pharaoh,  who 
have  their  possessions  upon  earth,  into  the  ranks  of 
the  priests  of  the  Lord,  who  have  not  their  portion  in 
worldly  things,  but  have  God  Himself  for  their 
heritage.  Such  an  one  was  he  who  said  :  '  We  are  as 
poor,  yet  making  many  rich;  as  having  nothing,  and 
yet  possessing  all  things.'  And,  again,  listen  to  Peter: 
1  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such  as  I  have  give 
I  thee :  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  rise 
up  and  walk.'  These  are  the  riches  of  the  priests 
of  Jesus  Christ.  They  have  nothing,  and  yet  behold 
that  which  they  bestow  !  No  riches  of  earth  can  be 
compared  with  such  heavenly  treasure." 

*  "  Contremisco  haec  dicens."    (Origcn,  "In  Gen.  Horn.,"  xvi.  51.) 
t  "  Confiteor  et  palam  populo  audiente."     (Ibid  ) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        297 

Such  words  explain  better  than  all  the  testimonies 
oi  the  Fathers,  the  influence  ot  the  young  doctor  of 
Alexandria.  He  was  the  first  to  bear  on  his  own 
shoulders  the  burden  which  he  sought  to  lay  upon  his 
hearers,  and  before  he  charged  them  to  make  them- 
selves poor  for  Christ's  sake,  he  made  himself  the 
poorest  of  the  poor.  How  vast  the  distance  between 
such  teaching  and  the  elegant  dissertations  of  Seneca 
on  poverty,  delivered  with  the  practical  comment  of  the 
gold  stored  away  in  the  cellar  of  his  mansion.  Origen 
might  well  say,  modifying  the  famous  melancholy 
adage  of  pagan  antiquity:  "I  see  and  teach  that  which 
is  most  excellent ;  I  strive  with  groanings  to  attain 
to  it."  Thus  it  wras  said  by  those  who  saw  him,  "As  is 
his  teaching  so  is  his  life."*  His  life  was  the  most 
beautiful  of  his  sermons.  The  illustrious  professors 
of  the  Museum  of  Alexandria,  with  all  their  glory  and 
authority,  could  not  contend  victoriously  with  this 
young  man — the  hero  and  martyr  of  his  faith — teaching 
in  secret  in  an  upper  chamber,  in  the  midst  of  poverty 
and  reproach,  his  body  arrayed  in  vile  raiment  and 
wasted  with  toil  and  fasting. 

Not  satisfied  with  self-mortification,  Origen  even 
went  so  far  as  to  mutilate  his  body,  taking  literally 
the  words  of  the  Saviour  about  those  who  make  them- 
selves eunuchs  for  the  kingdom  of  God.t  It  is  strange 
to  see  the  great  defender  of  allegorical  interpretation 
belying  on  this  point  his  favourite  theories.  One  cannot 
help  asking  how  it  was,  that  with  his  enlarged  and 
enlightened  intellect,  he  fell  into  this  unexampled  error, 
which  he  afterwards  fully  recognised  as  such.  It 
must  be  regarded  as  the   unreasoning   and   passionate 

*  Olov  ybvv  tov  Xoyov  roiovce  <pa<ri  tui'  rpoirov.  (Euscbius,  "H.  E.," 
VI.  iii.)  t ' A.Tr\ov(TTtpov  Kai  vmviKwTtpov  $icka(3(jjv.     (Ibid.,  viii.) 

20 


2g8  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

reaction,  so  to  speak,  against  youthful  lusts.  Conscious 
that  in  spite  of  all  his  austerities  these  were  still  stirring 
within  him,  feeling  his  pulses  beat  quicker  at  their 
suggestion  even  on  his  naked  couch  of  earth,  more  self- 
humiliated  by  the  mere  approach  of  temptation  than 
others  by  actual  sin,  finding  snares  in  his  teaching, 
which  brought  him  into  contact  .with  women  as  well 
as  men,*  and  eager  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of 
evil  and  any  pretext  for  calumny,  Origen  thought 
himself  happy  in  finding  in  the  Gospel,  words  which 
would  warrant  his  escape  from  all  these  humiliating 
struggles.  Clearly  he  acted  with  blind  precipitation, 
and  fell  into  grave  error;  but  his  motive  was  pure, 
and  while  blaming  him,  one  is  fain  to  respect  even  in 
its  aberrations  such  sensitiveness  of  conscience,  such 
unshrinking  intensity  of  religious  feeling. 

Origen  was  not  one  of  those  proud  ascetics,  who 
submit  to  privations  only  to  be  repaid  in  glory  and  the 
praise  of  their  fellows  for  all  that  they  voluntarily 
endure,  and  who  fast  and  go  about  with  sad  coun- 
tenances that  they  may  draw  upon  themselves  the 
attention  of  men.  His  austerity  was  the  secret  of  his 
private  life,  and  he  would  have  fain  kept  secret  all  his 
self-inflicted  penances.  Demetrius,  Bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, was  nevertheless  apprised  of  his  imprudent  act  of 
self-mutilation ;  but  he  judged  him  as  we  have  judged 
him,  admiring  and  blaming  at  the  same  time,  and  he 
encouraged  Origen  to  continue  courageously  a  course 
of  instruction  which  was  attended  with  ever-growing 
success. t 

It  was  at  this  time  he  took  a  step  which  was  to  be 
variously  judged.     He    discerned    in  the  greater  part 

*  Aia  to  /xt)  avcpaoi  jaovov  koI  yvvaiZl  dt  ra  Qua  TrpoaofiiXiiv.    (EusebillS, 

"  H.  E.,»  VI.  viii.)  f  Ibid. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   299 

of  his  Alexandrine  hearers,  the  trace  of  a  rival  power, 
which  sought  to  divide  their  allegiance.  This  was  the 
influence  of  a  philosopher  who  had  recently  founded 
a  new  school,  admirably  adapted  to  those  times  of 
agitation,  in  which  idealised  memories  of  the  past 
blended  with  aspirations  towards  the  future,  and 
the  human  soul,  wearied  but  restless  still  with  deep 
desire,  failed  to  distinguish  between  religion  and 
philosophy,  and  would  fain  at  once  believe  and  know, 
worship  and  adore.  Ammonius  Saccas — this  was  the 
philosopher's  name — combined  with  much  skill  the 
old  philosophical  traditions  of  Greece,  and  especially 
Platonism,  which  was  much  in  favour,  with  the  new 
needs  of  the  age,  and  with  that  new  oriental  theosophy 
without  which  all  doctrine  appeared  at  that  time  dry 
and  sterile.  He  wrote  nothing,  but  he  exerted  by  his 
oral  teaching  an  influence  resembling  that  of  Socrates. 
To  attempt  to  reconcile  Greek  speculation  with  the 
religious  mysteries  of  the  East,  was  nothing  very  new 
or  very  daring  at  Alexandria;  it  was  an  essay  constantly 
repeated.  But  Ammonius  Saccas  put  into  it  new 
ability  and  new  method ;  it  might  be  predicted  that 
he  would  found  a  great  school,  and  that  if  pagan 
philosophy  shone  forth  again  in  renewed  lustre,  it  would 
be  indebted  to  him  for  its  revival.  Origen,  ever  clear- 
sighted, at  once  perceived  that  the  conflict  would  be 
severe,  and,  anxious  to  become  familiar  with  his  op- 
ponent's mode  of  thought,  believing  it  possible  also 
that  he  might  receive  some  light  from  him,  he  repaired 
to  the  school  of  the  new  philosopher.  There  he  met 
with  a  young  man  of  large  intellect,  who  united  the 
most  scrupulous  devotion  as  a  pagan,  to  a  bold  system 
of  metaphysics.  This  was  Porphyry,  subsequently  to 
become   a  formidable    foe    to    Christianity.     Porphyry 


300  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

thus  describes  the  impression  which  Origen  made  upon 
him  at  this  time:  "I  remember,"  he  says,  "having 
seen  Origen  in  my  youth.  His  glory  was  then  great, 
and  it  has  been  enhanced  among  his  followers  by  the 
works  he  has  left  behind.  He  was  a  hearer  of  the 
philosopher  Ammonius,  the  instigator  of  the  greatest 
advance  in  philosophy  made  in  our  age."*  Origen  felt 
no  scruple  in  giving  his  mind  to  these  deep  researches. 
They  seemed  to  him  a  preparation  and  introduction, 
as  it  were,  to  Christian  theology.  To  study  Greek 
philosophy  was  in  his  view,  as  he  himself  tells  us, 
to  carry  off  the  gold  of  the  Egyptians,  to  convert  it 
into  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  altar. t  He  boldly 
took  the  position  of  a  Christian  philosopher  at  Alex- 
andria, and  wore,  like  Justin  Martyr,  the  philosopher's 
mantlet 

He  made  use  of  the  interval  of  peace  enjoyed  by  the 
Christians  after  the  death  of  Septimus  Severus,  and 
during  the  reign  of  Caracalla,  to  undertake  the  first 
of  his  great  journeys.  He  desired  to  visit  the  Church 
of  the  West,  which  differed  in  many  respects  from  that 
of  the  East,  but  which  had  so  nobly  paid  its  tribute 
of  martyrs  to  the  persecution.  The  Church  of  Rome 
had  a  special  interest  for  him  on  account  both  of  its 
history  and  position.  It  was  at  that  time  the  oldest 
of  the  great  Churches  of  the  West.§  Here  Peter  and 
Paul  had  suffered  martyrdom,  and  their  graves  were 
still  to  be  seen.  The  most  eminent  and  the  most 
dangerous  heretics  had  all  visited  it ;  an  entire  nation 

*f  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xix. 

fiver  (JKvXsvaavreg  rovg  AlyvTrriovg,  evpwciv  v\i]v  Trpbg  ti)v  KaracTKtvqv 
rwv  7rapa\a/.il3avoixsviov  tig  rrjv  7rpbg  QzLv  Xarpiiav  (Origen,  "  Epist.  ad 
Gregor.,"  I.  xxx.) 

X  <&i\6<To<pov  avaXafiojp  <*xniia-     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xiv.) 

§  Tt)v  apxatorcLTtjv.     (Ibid.,  xiv.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   30I 

had  there  been  won  over  from  idolatry  to  Christ.  Rome 
was  also  the  capital  of  the  world,  the  imperial  city,  the 
western  Babylon,  which  had  made  all  nations  drink 
of  the  cup  of  her  abominations,  and  which  still  exerted 
an  irresistible  fascination.  There  only  could  paganism 
be  seen  carried  out  to  its  full  and  final  issues,  exhibited 
in  all  its  glory  and  in  all  its  shame,  and  spreading  over 
its  corruption  a  robe  of  royal  purple.  Origen  does  not 
appear  to  have  made  a  long  sojourn  at  Rome.*  There 
was  indeed  nothing  likely  to  detain  him.  He  found 
himself  in  a  world  altogether  foreign  to  his  favourite 
pursuits.  The  practice  and  internal  government  of 
the  Church  were  the  subjects  most  interesting  to  the 
Christians  of  Rome.  The  grave  questions  of  doctrine 
and  apology  agitated  in  the  East,  had  but  small  interest 
for  these  practical  and  narrow  minds,  who  were  much 
more  concerned  about  modifications  in  discipline  and  the 
ecclesiastical  organisation  of  the  Church,  than  about 
the  settlement  of  dogmatic  theology.  The  Church  of 
Rome  was  passing  at  this  period  through  an  internal 
crisis,  which  we  shall  presently  describe  in  detail.  Let 
it  suffice  now  to  say  that  the  hierarchical  party,  ably  led 
by  Callisthus,  under  the  pontificate  of  Zephyrinus,  an 
aged  and  feeble  man,  was  on  the  verge  of  achieving 
a  signal  triumph.  Origen  belonged  to  the  liberal  party 
both  in  the  Church  and  in  theology.  He  could  not  fail 
to  be  therefore  much  scandalised  by  that  which  was 
transpiring   in    Rome.t      It   left   a  bitter   and    painful 

*  rEv9a  ov  ttoXv  ciarpi^ag.  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xiv.)  "  Con- 
stat eum  fuisse  Roma?  sub  Zephyrino  episcopo."  (St.  Jerome, 
"  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  I.  iv.i 

t  The  recently-discovered  manuscript,  the  "  Philosophoumena  " 
of  Hippolytus,  has  been  falsely  attributed  to  Origen.  The  author 
of  this  writing,  which  throws  a  strong  light  upon  this  internal 
struggle  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  speaks  of  himself  as  a  bishop. 
This  wholly  precludes  the  idea  that  Origen  was  the  writer  ;  but 


302  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

impression  upon  him,  as  we  gather  from  this  significant 
passage  in  one  of  his  homilies  :  "  The  Church  is  the 
temple  of  God,  built  up  of  living  stones,  but  it  has 
members  who  live  as  though  they  belonged  to  the  world. 
They  change  the  house  of  prayer,  composed  of  living 
stones,  into  a  den  of  thieves.  Who,  then,  seeing  the 
sins  committed  in  some  Churches  by  those  who  make 
a  gain  of  the  piety  of  others,  and  who,  not  content 
with  receiving  their  daily  bread  for  preaching  the 
Gospel,  make  it  a  means  of  amassing  riches, — who,  I  say, 
would  not  confess  that  the  great  and  glorious  mystery 
of  the  Church  has  been  changed  into  a  den  of  thieves?"* 
Origen,  in  this  passage,  clearly  marks  the  distinction 
between  the  visible  and  the  invisible  Church,  between 
the  Church  as  it  is,  and  the  Church  as  it  ought  to  be, 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  far  removed  is  his  stand-point 
from  that  of  the  hierarchical  party. 

On  his  return  to  Alexandria,  Origen  gave  himself 
again  to  teaching  with  renewed  ardour.  His  hearers 
became  so  numerous,  +  that  he  was  obliged  to  seek 
assistance  from  Heraclas,  one  of  his  own  disciples. 
To  him  he  entrusted  instruction  in  all  the  prepara- 
tory sciences,  reserving  philosophy  and  theology  to 
himself.  His  reputation  spread  far  and  wide,  as 
was  soon  shown  in  a  striking  manner.  A  Roman 
soldier,  from  the  depths  of  Arabia,  arrived  one  day 
at  Alexandria,  bearing  a  message,  which  seemed  a 
strange  one  in  such  hands.  His  general  had  sent 
to  ask  the  Bishop  Demetrius  and  the  Governor  of 
Egypt,  to  send  Origen  without  delay  to  him,  that  he 

those  who  ascribe  it  to  him  support  our  opinion,  that  his  journey 
to  Rome  must  have  done  much  to  strengthen  him  in  his  opposition 
to  the  hierarchical  party  there  dominant  at  that  time. 

*  Origen,  "  In  Matthaeum,"  xvi.  22.     "  Opera,"  III.  752. 

t  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  liv. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    303 

might  confer  with  him  on  the  Christian  doctrine.* 
Origen  did  not  hesitate,  and  at  once  set  out  on  the 
long  journey  across  the  desert,  to  carry  the  water  of 
life  to  this  thirsty  soul.  Some  years  later  he  was  sent 
for  to  Antioch  by  Mammaea,  the  mother  of  Alexander 
Severus,  who,  desiring  to  know  the  Christian  religion, 
thought  she  could  not  do  better  than  inquire  of  the 
famous  doctor  of  Alexandria. t  He  remained  some 
time  at  this  liberal  court,  which  gave  a  ready  welcome 
to  every  religious  doctrine,  and  erred  only  in  this,  that 
among  so  many  conflicting  ideas,  it  failed  to  make 
a  choice.  Origen  expounded  the  truth  of  Christ  to 
his  illustrious  hearers  with  as  much  frankness  as  to 
his  disciples  at  Alexandria,  and  when  he  departed  he 
left  upon  their  hearts  strong  and  vivid  impressions, 
which  were,  however,  unhappily  dissipated  by  a  too 
lax  eclecticism. 

In  his  extraordinary  zeal  for  the  interpretation  of 
the  sacred  books,  Origen,  during  his  abode  in  Egypt, 
gave  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Hebrew  tongue.  He 
was  anxious  to  test  for  himself  the  exactness  of  the 
translation.  He  thought,  too,  that  Hebrew,  as  the 
primitive  language  of  mankind,  would  become  the 
universal  language  ;  he  almost  went  so  far  as  to  ascribe 
a  sort  of  sacred  magic  to  the  original  words  of  the  holy 
books.  In  this  he  fell  in  with  the  superstition  of  his 
age.  At  the  same  time  that  he  was  preparing  him- 
self for  these  vast  exegetical  labours,  he  formed  a 
friendship  which  was  to  be  of  immense  value  to  him. 
A  rich  inhabitant  of  Alexandria,  named  Ambrose, 
had  allowed  himself  to  be  led  away  by  one  of  those 
numerous  Gnostic  sects,  which  went  on  multiplying  like 

*  'Qcj dv  fxtrd  ffirovSrjs  cnrdffijg  tuv 'UpiyLvijv  7rlp\poit)v Koivwvi)<jovTa  Xoyiov 

&vT<p.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xix.)  f  Ibid. 


304  THE    EARLY    YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  phantoms  of  a  diseased  brain,  and  promulgated 
doctrines  vague  as  the  creations  of  a  dream.  Ambrose 
was  one  of  those  conscientious  heretics  who  sought 
out  Origen  to  inquire  of  his  doctrine.  By  Origen  he 
was  brought  back  to  a  sounder  faith,  and  from  this 
time  Ambrose  entertained  a  most  deep  and  grateful 
affection  for  his  benefactor,  and  a  bond  of  closest 
intimacy  was  formed  between  them.  Ambrose 
placed  his  large  fortune  at  the  disposal  of  Origen,  or 
rather  at  the  service  of  the  cause  which,  in  his  view, 
found  its  mightiest  advocate  in  the  learned  doctor  of 
Alexandria. 

His  own  desire  was  to  give  the  widest  possible  sphere 
of  influence  to  the  teaching  and  writings  of  his  friend. 
He  knew  well  that  Origen  would  not  receive  one  coin 
for  himself,  but  that  he  would  accept  any  sacrifice  for 
the  spread  of  his  faith,  because  then  it  would  be  not 
his  own  interest  but  the  honour  of  Christ  which  would 
be  promoted.  Origen  felt,  like  Clement,  some  degree 
of  repugnance  to  writing  books.  He  only  did  so  at  the 
pressing  request  of  his  friend,  who  urged  it  upon  him 
incessantly,  and  provided  the  means  for  putting  his 
thoughts  into  circulation.*  Ambrose  gave  to  Origen 
seven  secretaries,  who  took  it  in  turn  to  write  without 
pause  or  interruption  from  his  dictation ;  and  beside 
these  he  had  in  his  employ  a  number  of  copyists.  He 
himself  was  the  most  zealous  fellow-worker  with  his 
illustrious  master.  Origen  has  paid  a  noble  tribute  to 
him  in  the  fragment  of  a  letter  which  has  come  down 
to  us  :  "  The  pious  Ambrose,  who  has  devoted  him- 
self to  God,  thinking  that  I  loved  work,  and  that  I 
was  truly  athirst  for  the  Divine  Word,  has  convinced 

*  '  Apfipoaiov  zg  tu  (.uiKiara  Trapop/xovvrog  dvrbv  fxvplaig  oaaig  TrpoTpoircug. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxiii.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       305 

me  by  his  laborious  zeal  and  his  love  for  the  sacred 
Scriptures.''1  .  .  .  We  never  cease  comparing  texts  ; 
we  discuss  them  during  meals,  and  after  meals  allow 
ourselves  no  time  for  walking  or  rest  ;  we  return 
at  once  to  our  studies,  and  diligently  correct  the 
manuscripts. t  So  far  from  giving  the  whole  night 
to  slumber,  we  carry  on  our  labours  till  very  late,  not  to 
speak  of  the  morning's  work,  which  is  pursued  without 
relaxation  till  the  ninth  and  sometimes  the  tenth  hour. 
Such  a  measure  of  time  should  be  devoted  to  teaching 
and  the  deep  study  of  the  Divine  oracles,  by  ail  who 
wish  to  make  them  the  serious  business  of  life."  X 

There  was  something  beautiful  and  noble  in  the  asso- 
ciation of  these  two  "men,  of  whom  the  one  placed  all 
his  fortune  and  all  his  interest  at  the  service  of  truth, 
and  the  other  consecrated  to  it  all  his  genius.  The 
house  of  Ambrose  became  a  sort  of  scientific  and 
Christian  monastery,  where  zeal  alone  imposed  severe 
regulations,  which  were  freely  accepted  and  joyfully 
observed.  It  was  a  sort  of  foreshadowing  of  Port- 
Royal.  Origen  was  thus  enabled  to  accomplish  vast 
exegetical  labours.  He  endeavoured  first  to  fix  the 
text  and  the  literal  sense  of  the  holy  books  ;  he  began 
to  draw  up  the  ingenious  comparative  table,  which 
placed  side  by  side  the  Hebrew  text,  the  Septuagint 
version,  and  several  other  ancient  translations. §  Fol- 
lowing the  example  of  the  Alexandrian  grammarians, 
he  wrote  scholiums  and  commentaries  on  the  sacred 
text,  in  which  he  endeavoured  to  give  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  sacred  writers,  and   to  present   their 

*  ~Nofii'£u)v  fie  <pt\o7rovov  tlvat  km  iraw  Buf/av  rov  Qtiov  \6yov  i/Xiy^t 
n)  it'ui  <pi\o7Tovia.  (Origen,  "  Epist.  ad  quemdam  de  Ambrosio." 
"  Opera,"  I.  63.) 

f  'Kv  to'iq  KCUpolg CKfiVOiQ  0i\o\oym>  kcu  axpifiovv  ra  dvriypa^a        (Ibid.) 
I  Ibid.  §  Epiphanes,  "Ha?rcs.,"  lxiv. 


306      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

chain  of  thought.  Origen  was  in  truth  the  creator  of 
scientific  exegesis,  and  in  spite  of  the  defects  of  his 
allegorical  method,  he  fairly  merits  the  glory  of  having 
first  apprehended  what  a  commentary  on  sacred  Scrip- 
ture ought  to  be.  Before  him,  theologians  had  made 
ingenious  dissertations  upon  texts.  He  tried  to  elicit 
their  real  meaning.  He  was  the  first  to  attempt  to 
determine  the  true  text,  and  to  interpret  it.  He  fell 
into  many  errors,  but  he  nevertheless  opened  a  mine 
of  wealth.  His  Commentaries  on  St.  John,  on  Genesis, 
and  the  Psalms,  were  commenced  at  this  time.  His 
great  delight  was  in  the  study  of  St.  John  ;  he  rejoiced 
to  trace  him  in  his  calm  and  royal  flight  into  the 
sublimities  of  Christian  metaphysics ;  he  would  fain 
follow  him,  who  has  been  so  well  called  the  Eagle 
of  the  Gospel,  in  his  soarings  towards  the  sun  of  the 
moral  world. 

Origen  wrote  at  this  period,  beside  numerous  exe- 
getical  works,  the  "  Stromata,"  or  Medleys,  being 
extracts  from  the  ancient  philosophers.  But  his  great 
work  was  his  book  "  On  the  Principles,"  in  which,  with 
perfect  candour,  he  stated  his  whole  philosophical  and 
theological  creed.  In  this  volume,  Platonism  was 
closely  associated  with  fervent  piety,  and  some  vestiges 
of  the  dualism  of  the  ancient  Greek  philosophy,  were 
corrected  and  modified  by  so  absolute  a  faith  in  freedom 
of  action,  both  in  God  and  man,  that  free-will  was 
given  as  the  universal  explanation  of  the  problems  of 
the  world  and  of  history,  the  actual  condition  of  every 
man  being  fixed  by  the  anterior  determination  of 
his  will.  In  order  to  judge  of  the  effect  produced  at 
Alexandria  by  such  a  book,  which,  after  affirming  the 
pre-existence  of  all  beings,  opened  to  them  the  bright 
perspective  of  universal    restoration ;    in    order   not  to 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   307 

exaggerate  the  amazement  and  alarm  which  would 
be  caused  by  theories  so  daring,  supported  by  texts 
interpreted  with  more  or  less  of  freedom,  we  must 
carry  ourselves  back  to  a  period  which  allowed  large 
latitude  to  Christian  thought,  and  clung  tenaciously 
only  to  the  foundations  of  the  faith.  Above  all,  we 
must  place  ourselves  in  the  world  in  which  Origen 
lived,  in  the  midst  of  a  Church  which  had  re- 
ceived and  approved  the  teaching  of  Pantaenus  and 
Clement.  The  system  of  Origen,  in  the  time  and 
place  where  it  was  developed,  did  not  exceed  the 
liberty  tolerated  by  the  Church  in  matters  of  doctrine. 
It  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  third  century  the  Church  had  not  yet 
instituted  those  great  and  solemn  sessions  known 
under  the  name  of  General  Councils,  in  which  doctrine 
was  defined  with  the  fixedness  of  a  formulary.  Faith 
found  its  official  expression  in  the  very  simple  formula 
of  baptism,  or  in  the  slightly  more  detailed  confession, 
which  had  as  it  were  blossomed  out  of  that,  and  which 
is  now  known  as  the  Apostles'  Creed.  Men  confined 
themselves  to  the  great  facts  of  redemption,  without 
forming  them  into  a  system.  Irenaeus,  some  time  pre- 
viously, had  contrasted  Gnosticism  with  that  which  he 
called  the  faith  of  all  the  Churches.  He  contents 
himself  with  affirming,  in  general  terms,  the  fall,  for- 
giveness, the  unity  of  the  two  Testaments,  the  calling 
of  the  Gentiles,  the  incarnation,  and  the  resurrection.* 
Origen  did  not  at  all  overpass  the  limits  assigned  to 
Christian  thought  by  the  Bishop  of  Lyons,  the  zealous 
champion  of  orthodoxy.  Platonist  errors  were  diffused 
through  all  the  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived.  Univer- 
salism  had  not  as  yet  been  either  discussed  or  repu- 
*  Irenceus,  "Contra  Haeres.."  I.x. 


308  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

diated.  Origen,  in  insisting  as  he  did  upon  moral 
freedom,  clearly  marked  his  divergence  from  Gnosticism, 
which  was  the  great  heresy  of  his  day.  *He  might 
therefore  feel  that  he  only  made  use  of  his  most 
simple  right,  in  giving  expression  to  his  views  in 
his  book  "  On  the  Principles."  It  is  certain  that 
the  work  produced  no  immediate  scandal ;  it  was,  in 
fact,  but  the  epitome  of  doctrines  which  its  author  had 
long  openly  professed.  Its  appearance  would  doubtless 
excite  some  indignation  in  the  ranks  of  the  narrow 
party,  of  which  Clement  had  already  had  reason  to 
complain.  This  party  looked  with  an  evil  eye  on  the 
bold  flights  of  Christian  speculation,  and  was  espe- 
cially alarmed  to  see  the  Church  invaded  with 
philosophical  theories  and  studies.  Demetrius,  the 
bishop,  did  not,  however,  at  once  break  with  Ori- 
gen ;  he  only  subsequently  made  a  pretext  of  his 
theological  views,  when  he  was  anxious  on  other 
grounds  to  be  rid  of  him.  The  question  of  doctrine 
was  not  the  cause  or  the  real  occasion  of  the  grave 
difficulties  which  arose  between  Origen  and  his  former 
partisans ;  it  was  but  a  cloak  to  cover  a  purely  eccle- 
siastical jealousy. 

We  are  approaching  the  most  painful  and  troubled 
period  in  the  life  of  Origen,  the  period  also  in  which 
the  nobleness  of  his  character  shone  forth  with  brightest 
lustre.  Some  years  previously,  in  a  journey  made  by 
him  into  Asia  Minor,  at  the  time  when  the  Emperor 
Caracalla  was  filling  the  city  of  Alexandria  with  terror 
and  blood,  he  had  been  invited  by  the  bishops  of 
Palestine  to  take  part  in  the  public  worship,  although 
he  was  not  invested  with  any  priestly  dignity.  This 
was  quite  in  harmony  with  the  ancient  tradition  of  the 
Church.     For  a  long   time  the   right  to  take  a  direct 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        309 

share  in  the  instruction  and  edification  of  the  sacred 
assemblies,  was  held  to  be  common  to  all  Christians, 
and  it  had  rather  fallen  into  disuse  than  been  abolished. 
It  appears  to  have  been  retained  longer  in  Palestine 
than  at  Alexandria.  Origen  had  no  hesitation  in 
responding  to  the  desire  expressed  by  friends  dear  to 
his  heart,  worthy  of  all  his  confidence,  and  occupying 
a  high  position  in  the  Church.  He  preached  therefore 
at  Csesarea,  and  with  much  success.*  Demetrius,  who 
was  an  advocate  of  the  hierarchical  principle,  and  who 
sought  to  maintain  and  extend  the  rights  of  the  epis- 
copate, learned,  not  without  alarm,  that  the  illustrious 
catechist  nominated  by  him,  had  preached  without  his 
authority.  He  feared  also  that  Origen  might  settle 
somewhere  at  a  distance  from  the  Church  to  which 
his  name  and  fame  added  so  much  lustre.  He  therefore 
hastily  recalled  him,  but  without  giving  his  reasons. 
Evidently  mutual  confidence  no  longer  existed  between 
them;  a  rupture  might  be  easily  brought  about  by  the 
slightest  misunderstanding.  A  short  time  after  the 
appearance  of  his  book  "  On  the  Principles,"  Origen 
— whose  renown  was  daily  augmenting,  and  towards 
whom  all  eyes  turned  in  moments  of  difficulty,  especially 
when  heresy  was  to  be  confuted,  because  more  reliance 
was  then  placed  on  weighty  arguments  than  on  authori- 
tative decisions — was  called  into  Achaia,  to  confer 
with  the  false  teachers  who  were  troubling  the  Churches 
of  that  country.  Eager  to  respond  to  so  honourable  an 
appeal,  he  set  out  for  Greece,  passing  through  Palestine 
and  Asia  Minor  on  his  way.  At  Ephesus  he  had  a 
conference  with  a  Gnostic  heretic.  Immediately  on  his 
arrival  in  Csesarea,  Theophilact,  the  bishop  of  that  city, 

*  "Ev9a  Kal  ciaXiyeaQai,  rag  re  Otiag  ip^vtitiv   ypa<pug   iiri  tov  koivov 
Tt]Q  tKK\7](rUtg  oi  T>)ct  t7ri(jK07roi,  avrbv  rj£iovv.    (EuseblUS,"  H.  E.,"VI.xix.) 


310  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  several  other  bishops,  at  whose  head  was  Alexander 
of  Jerusalem,  urged  him  to  receive  consecration  as  a 
priest.  They  desired  thus  to  confer  on  him  the  un- 
questionable right  to  preach ;  possibly  they  may  have 
also  thought  to  give  him  higher  authority,  in  the 
important  conferences  in  which  he  was  about  to  take 
part.  Origen  yielded  to  their  entreaties ;  he  had  no 
reason  for  refusing.*  The  various  Churches  already 
enjoyed  large  independence  ;  no  fixed  and  general  rule 
was  imposed  upon  them.  The  tendencies  of  the  time 
were  doubtless  leading  towards  the  introduction  of 
universal  rules,  but  these  tendencies  had  not  as  yet 
gained  any  decisive  triumph.  Such  times  were  full  of 
difficulty  for  men  like  Origen,  who  ignore  ecclesiastical 
polity,  and  who,  holding  simply  by  consecrated  and 
clearly-defined  ordinances,  are  incapable  of  veering 
round  with  every  current,  so  as  to  please  their 
hierarchical  superiors.  Origen  took  nothing  into 
consideration  but  his  rights  and  his  duty. 

As  soon  as  the  tidings  of  Origen's  consecration 
reached  Alexandria,  Demetrius  showed  the  strongest 
irritation,  and  resolved  to  strike  a  decisive  blow.  Origen, 
unconscious  as  yet  of  the  storm  about  to  break  on  his 
head,  left  for  Greece.  He  made  the  longest  sojourn  at 
Athens,  disputing  there  with  the  heretics,  and  probably 
entering  into  communications  with  the  philosophers  of 
that  city,  brilliant  still,  though  fallen  far  from  its 
ancient  greatness.  He  returned  to  Alexandria  by  way 
of  Ephesus,  where  he  encountered  fresh  heretics  to 
be  refuted. t     Wherever  he  went  he  left  the  luminous 

*  IT)Of (7/3 vrepiov  xeipoQioiav  iv  Kairrcfptla  TrpoQ  twi  ryde  iTncKOTruiv 
avakafipavH.      (Eusebius,   "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxiii.) 

t  This  we  infer  from  his  letter  to  his  friends  at  Alexandria,  in 
which  he  complains  that  false  reports  had  been  spread  abroad  of 
the  acts  of  a  conference  held  at  Ephesus.     ("  Opera,"  I.  3.J 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   311 

traces  of  his  great  genius.  On  his  return  to  his  own 
country,  he  thought  quietly  to  resume  his  course  of 
teaching,  and  probably  to  obtain  from  his  bishop 
authority  to  preach  in  the  church  of  his  native  city. 
But  he  found  all  changed  ;  he  met  with  coldness, 
mistrust,  and  severity,  where  he  had  always  received 
respect  and  affection.  He  could  not  but  perceive,  from 
the  frigid  reserve  of  the  most  influential  of  the  Alex- 
andrine clergy,  and  the  solitude  in  which  he  was  left, 
that  some  stern  measure  was  in  preparation  against  him. 
The  narrow  and  bigoted  party  in  the  Church  had  long 
vowed  implacable  enmity  to  him,  and  this  was  too 
favourable  an  opportunity  to  be  let  slip.  It  is  certain 
that  the  question  of  doctrine,  though  not  officially 
brought  forward,  was  from  this  time  raised  against 
Origen,  for  he  himself  tells  us  that  falsified  reports  of 
his  conferences  with  the  heretics  were  used  to  his 
detriment.  The  irritation  of  the  bishop  gave  the 
impetus  to  a  long-latent  opposition,  which  had  been 
provoked  by  the  boldness  of  his  teaching  and  also  by 
his  great  success. 

It  is  natural  to  inquire,  what  were  the  motives  which 
suddenly  inclined  Demetrius  to  take  violent  measures  ? 
Must  we  ascribe  his  conduct,  as  Eusebius  does,  to 
mean  jealousy  of  the  moral  authority  and  the  glory 
of  Origen  ?  *  The  previous  conduct  of  the  Bishop  of 
Alexandria  does  not  justify  such  a  supposition.  We 
have  seen  him,  up  to  this  time,  warmly  favouring  the 
teaching  of  Origen,  placing  him  at  eighteen  years  of  age 
at  the  head  of  a  School  of  Catechists,  and  recalling  him 
from  Caesarea  in  the  fear  of  losing  him.  It  must  be 
nevertheless  acknowledged  that  the  influence  of  Origen 
in  the  Eastern  Church  had  since  that  time  gone  on 
:::  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  viii. 


312  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

augmenting  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  was  sent  for  from 
all  quarters  to  defend  the  faith  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  error ;  and  that  a  bishop  like  Demetrius,  very 
jealous  of  his  own  authority,  might  take  umbrage  at 
this  sort  of  moral  episcopacy,  which  cast  the  merely 
official  into  the  shade.  It  was  not  of  the  theologian 
and  teacher  that  Demetrius — a  practical  man  and  a 
man  of  authority — was  jealous,  but  of  the  counsellor  of 
the  Churches,  universally  consulted  alike  in  Greece 
and  Asia  Minor. 

Nor  must  we  forget  that  while  the  influence  of  Origen 
went  on  increasing,  his  boldness  as  a  philosopher 
asserted  itself  more  and  more  decidedly.  These  two 
causes  in  combination  might  bring  about  a  change  in 
the  disposition  of  his  bishop  towards  him.  We  do  not, 
however,  regard  either  of  these  as  the  principal  cause  of 
the  sudden  severity  used  against  Origen.  Demetrius, 
as  we  have  hinted,  belonged  to  the  hierarchical  faction, 
which,  especially  in  the  larger  Churches,  was  at  that 
time  seeking  to  establish  itself.  The  promptitude  and 
strength  of  his  protest  against  the  consecration  of 
Origen,  sufficiently  indicate  his  tendencies  in  this 
direction.  Origen,  on  the  other  hand,  without  falling 
into  the  extremes  of  Montanism,  clearly  belonged  to  the 
more  liberal  party,  which  watched  with  uneasiness 
the  encroachments  of  the  episcopate,  and  unsparingly 
marked  its  disapproval  of  the  ambition  of  the  hierarchy.* 
The  sentiments  of  this  party  were  well  known  to 
Demetrius,  and  the  consecration  of  his  subordinate  at 
Caesarea,  appeared  to  him  an  expression  of  this  spirit  of 
independence,  which  he  was  determined  to  crush  at  all 
costs.     The  act  wras  not  in  itself  illegal,  but  it  boldly 

*  It  may  be  remembered  that  he  compared  the  ambitious  spirits 
at  Ephesus  to  those  who  made  merchandise  in  the  Temple. 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.         313 

set  at  defiance  all  episcopal  pretensions,  overt  or  con- 
cealed ;  it  was  necessary  to  take  immediate  and  prompt 
steps  in  the  case  of  a  man  who  exercised  so  important 
an  influence  as  Origen.  It  was  enough  for  the  bishop 
to  show  such  an  intention  in  order  to  call  into  clear  mani- 
festation all  the  bitter  feelings  long  secretly  cherished 
against  the  great  philosopher.  Origen  foresaw  what 
was  about  to  happen.  After  filling  for  so  many  years 
the  post  of  teacher,  with  incomparable  power,  he  might 
have  gathered  around  him  a  numerous  party,  and 
sustained  the  contest  on  equal  terms  ;  he  knew  well 
that  the  bishops  who  had  consecrated  him  would  not 
abandon  him,  and  could  balance  with  their  episcopal 
approval  the  episcopal  censure  of  Demetrius.  But 
Origen  feared  above  all  things  to  create  a  division 
in  the  Church.  The  interests  of  the  faith  he  held  more 
dear  by  far  than  merely  personal  considerations. 
He  was  prepared  to  make  any  sacrifice  rather  than 
cause  a  rupture  in  the  Church,  and  with  a  disinterested- 
ness worthy  of  the  highest  admiration,  he  anticipated, 
by  an  immediate  departure,  the  rigorous  measures 
preparing  against  him.  The  continuance  of  his  course 
of  teaching  he  committed  to  his  disciple  Heraclas.* 

Demetrius,  far  from  being  appeased  by  the  conciliatory 
step  taken  by  Origen,  resolved  to  press  forward  ener- 
getically the  condemnation  of  one  whom  he  regarded  as 
a  rebel.  He  convoked  a  synod  composed  of  Egyptian 
bishops,  in  which  he  gave  seats  also  to  the  priests  of 
his  clergy.  In  this  assembly  Origen  was  pronounced 
unworthy  of  the  office  of  catechist,  and  was  excluded 
from   the   communion   of  the    Church    of    Alexandria. 

*  Ti)v  air'  'A\iZavcf)iiac  iitrTCtvaarcimv  trrl  rt)v  Kaioopriav  6  'Qpiysvrjg 
Troiiiaajuvvc,  'HpaxXip  to  r/)s  Ka-tixi'ioioig  cida<JKa\tXov  Kara\ii7ret.  (Ell- 
sebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxvi.) 

21 


314  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

The  synod  did  not  venture  to  depose  him  from  the 
dignity  of  priest  or  eider  of  the  Church  of  Caesarea.* 
Probably  some  members  of  the  convocation  objected  to 
any  such  interference  in  the  internal  government  of 
another  Church.  Demetrius,  who  was  determined  to 
carry  out  the  ends  he  had  in  view,  assembled,  as 
Pamphilus  tells  us,  another  synod,  into  which  he 
admitted  only  his  own  partisans,  and  obtained,  without 
deliberation,  the  object  at  which  he  aimed — the  depo- 
sition of  Origen  as  a  priest. t  This  proceeding  shows 
him  to  have  been  capable  of  very  mean,  ungenerous 
passions.  Demetrius  first  brought  up  against  Origen 
the  imprudent  act  of  his  youth,  and  urged  this  as  a 
reason  for  his  exclusion  from  sacred  orders ;  but  he  laid 
greatest  stress  on  the  irregularity  of  his  consecration  in 
the  midst  of  a  foreign  Church.  He  doubtless  pointed 
out  that,  according  to  the  special  constitution  of  the 
Church  of  Alexandria,  this  consecration  gave  impor- 
tant rights  to  any  one  possessing  it,  since  the  bishop 
of  that  city  was  still  nominated  by  the  free  choice  of 
the  elders.  It  is  certain  that  theological  rancour  found 
ample  scope  in  these  two  synods ;  the  excommunication 
would  be  inexplicable  but  for  the  presence  of  such  a 
cause.  All  the  services  rendered  by  the  great  teacher 
were  thus  forgotten,  and  implacable  hatred  ruthlessly 
sacrificed  this  illustrious  victim  to  the  rising  hierarchy. 
Origen  was  cut  off  from  the  Church  to  which  he  had 
gained  so  many  thousands  of  adherents,  to  teach  the 
world  how  much  it  costs  to  serve  steadfastly  the  cause 
of  liberty. 

*  Svvodog  adpo\Z,iTai  'nriGKOTruv  Kai  nvwv  7rpe<T(3vT?p(i)V  Kara  'Qpiytvovg. 
*H  $€,  wg  6  T\ctfi(pi\6g  <pi]<ri,  ■^i]^iZ>tra  (ifTaorrjvai  n'tv  curb  ' AXiZav? pdag  tov 
'tipiyhvqv  Kai  1'ijre  Ctarpifitiv  iv  alny  fiijrt  CiS&ffKttv,  Trjg  /.uvtoi  tov 
Trpecrfivrepiov  rifxrjg    ovCafioig   airoKiKiv^aQai.      (PhotillS,  "  Codex,"  xviii.) 

t  "O  yt  &i]f.iiiTpiog  ufAa  Tiaiv  nrianoTrciQ  Alyv7rrioig  Kai  rr\g  iipuxrvvrjg 
dirfKfjpvXs.     1  Ibid.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.       315 

Demetrius  did  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  twofold 
condemnation  passed  upon  Origen.  He  hastened  to 
make  it  known  throughout  all  the  Churches  by  letter,* 
and  the  Churches  of  Palestine  alone  took  exception  to 
the  course  that  had  been  pursued  by  him.  It  was  a 
time  of  poignant  suffering  for  a  man  like  Origen,  who 
lived  more  intensely  in  the  affections  than  the  intellect, 
and  who  had  cherished  the  most  tender  attachment 
to  the  Church  which  thus  cast  him  out.  He  was  not 
sustained  under  his  sorrow  by  any  of  that  false  pride 
which  resents  injuries,  and  renders  evil  for  evil.  He 
detested  heresy  as  deeply  as  any,  and  he  knew  well 
that  his  peculiar  views  were  not  such  as  to  exclude 
him  from  that  Christian  communion,  to  which  he  clung 
with  every  fibre  of  his  soul.  There  was  keen  anguish 
for  him  therefore  in  this  violent  severance  of  a  tie  so  dear. 
He  felt  himself  in  the  right,  but  that  could  not  blunt 
the  edge  of  the  blow  which  fell  upon  him.  No  angry 
word,  however,  escaped  with  his  expressions  of  sorrow, 
and  he  was  greater  in  the  day  of  shame  and  desolation, 
than  he  had  ever  been  in  the  day  of  prosperity.  We 
find  his  feelings  vividly  expressed  in  those  of  his 
writings  which  date  from  this  period.  We  have  seen 
that  he  had  commenced  at  Alexandria,  his  Com- 
mentaries on  the  Gospel  of  John.  The  closing  pages, 
which  he  penned  in  that  city,  bear  the  impress  of  the 
sorrow  filling  his  soul.  "  I  have  been  enabled,"  he  says, 
"  to  reach  my  fifth  volume  on  the  Gospel  of  John, 
although  the  storm  raised  against  me  at  Alexandria 
threatened  to  hinder ;  but  Jesus  spoke  with  authority 

*  To7c  ava  t>)v  oikov/isv^v  iTUGKuTroiQ  Karaypcupuv.  (Eusebius, 
"  H.  E.,"  VI.  viii.)  "  Qui  tanta  in  eum  debacchatus  est  insania  ut 
per  totum  mundum  super  nomine  ejus  scriberet."  (St.  Jerome, 
"  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  liv.) 


316  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  the  floods  and  to  the  sea."*  In  this  fifth  volume  on 
St.  John,  Origenfeels  already  compelled  to  saysomething 
in  self-vindication.  He  replies  indirectly  to  the  narrow- 
minded  Christians  who  accuse  him  of  writing  too  many 
books,  by  showing  that  he  who  teaches  always  the  same 
truth  writes  in  reality  only  one  book;  that  it  is  not  the 
multiplicity  of  writings,  but  the  promulgation  of  conflict- 
ing ideas,  which  is  matter  for  regret;  and,  finally,  that  it 
is  dangerous  to  deprive  the  soul  and  mind  of  Christians  of 
wholesome  nourishment,  lest  they  have  recourse  to  the 
too  plentiful  and  poisonous  food  of  heresy.  "  Hence," 
he  adds,  "  it  seems  to  me  necessary,  that  he  who  can 
without  deceit  or  prevarication  stand  forth  as  the  de- 
fender of  the  Church,  and  refute  those  who  are  imbued 
with  erroneous  notions,  should  do  battle  with  heresy. "t 
He  did  not  yet  know,  when  he  wrote  these  touching, 
earnest  words,  that  he  was  himself  treated  as  a  heretic, 
and  that  the  happy  days  were  passed,  when,  as  in  his 
youth,  orthodoxy  was  still  broad  enough  to  tolerate 
diversity  of  theology  in  the  unity  of  the  faith. 

He  could  not,  in  his  exile,  at  once  recover  calmness 
of  spirit  enough  to  resume  his  labours.  It  was  only  at 
the  instance  of  Ambrose  that  he  set  himself  again  to 
his  Commentaries  on  St.  John.  He  thought,  with  reason, 
that  great  buildings  cannot  be  reared  in  the  stress  of 
the  storm ;  that  there  must  be  a  time  of  rest  and  quiet 
to  allow  their  foundations  to  settle.  J  He  desired  there- 
fore to   await   the   return  of  serenity  and  peace  in  his 

*  Me\pi  ye  rov  7ri[X7TT0V  tojxov  ei  icai  6  Kara  rr\v  'A\e%avdpiiav 
X«ijU(ur  avTiirpuTTiiv,  tdoicei,  rd  Cido/iei'd  vTriiyoptvoafxtv,  t7rirti.uovrog  rolg 
dvi/ioig  Kal  ro~ig  Kv^am  Tijg  6a\dffat]g  tov  lh]oov.  ("  In  Johann.,"  VI. 
Vol.  IV.  ioi.) 

f  '  AvayKaiov  f.101  doKtt  tivai  tov  dvva^uvov  Trptafiivuv  vTrip  tov  Ikk\i]vi- 
arrTiKov  \6yov  a7rapaxc(paKTiog  'iaraaOdi  KaTa  twv  alptTitcCJv  dvcnrXacrfiaTtov. 
(Ibid.,  ioo.)  I   Ibid. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        317 

soul,  before  he  resumed  his  labours  on  the  construc- 
tion of  the  great  theological  monument  which  he  had 
begun  to  raise.  It  was  not  long  before  he  recovered 
that  which  he  sought,  as  he  thus  himself  tells  us  : 
"  After  I  had  left  Egypt,"  he  says  in  his  Commen- 
tary on  St.  John,  "like  Israel  delivered  by  God,  the 
enemy  assailed  me  with  the  utmost  violence  by  fresh 
letters,  altogether  contrary  to  the  Gospel,  and  stirred  up 
against  me  all  the  winds  of  Egypt."*  Origen  thought 
it  best  to  pause  till  this  first  agitation,  which  troubled 
his  thoughts  and  rendered  him  inapt  for  commenting 
on  Divine  truth,  had  passed  away.  "  Now,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  that  the  fiery  darts  aimed  at  me  have  failed — 
for  God  Himself  has  quenched  them — now  that  my 
soul  is  grown  accustomed  to  that  which  it  is  to  suffer 
for  the  Word  of  God,  I  ought  to  bear  more  easily  the 
onslaught  of  my  enemies.  Having  recovered  some 
composure  of  mind,  I  will  not  defer  to  resume  the 
course  of  my  labours.  I  ask  God,  who  vouchsafes  to 
enlighten  the  sanctuary  of  my  soul,  to  aid  me  so 
that  I  may  complete  the  edifice  of  my  Commentaries 
on  St.  John."  Could  he  possibly  have  spoken  more 
generously  of  his  adversaries,  or  sought  more  worthy 
consolation  for  himself  ? 

A  letter  from  Origen  to  his  friends  at  Alexandria  has 
come  down  to  us  ;  it  shows  the  same  forgetfulness  of 
injuries,  the  same  absence  of  a  revengeful  spirit,  the 
same  charity,  accompanied  with  the  keen  sense  of  the 
injustice  done  him.  "  Is  it  needful,"  he  exclaims,  "to 
call  to  your  minds  the  discourses  of  the  prophets,  in 
which  they  so  often  reprove  the  pastors  and  elders  of 
the  people,  its  priests  and  its  princes?    You  can  for  your- 

*  "Ettuto.  too  IxQpov  wiKpurara  t)ftwv  KaTaaTpartvoa/jtvov  cut  tCov 
kclivuiv avTov  ypafif.uiTioi'.     ("In  Johann./' VI.     Vol.  IV.  101.) 


3lS  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

selves  search  them  out  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and 
clearly  discern  that  the  time  is  come  of  which  it  is 
said,  '  Trust  not  in  any  friend ;  put  not  your  confi- 
dence in  princes.'  Now  is  fulfilled  the  oracle  :  '  The 
rulers  of  my  people  have  forgotten  me ;  they  are  wise 
to  do  evil,  but  to  do  good  they  know  not.'  We  ought 
much  rather  to  feel  pity  than  hatred  for  them,  and  pray 
for  them  rather  than  revile  them.  We  have  been  called 
unto  blessing,  not  unto  cursing."*1  Origen  then  re- 
minds his  readers  that  the  Archangel  Michael  would 
not  curse  even  the  devil,  but  said,  "The  Lord  rebuke 
thee!"  "Now,"  he  says,  "we  cannot  know  whether 
God  did  curse  him  or  how  He  curses."  Again 
he  says  :  "  Little  sins  as  well  as  great  draw  down 
condemnation  upon  us.  It  is  written  that  neither 
drunkards  nor  revilers  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Let  us,  then,  seek  to  do  all  things  prudently; 
drinking  with  sobriety,  speaking  with  moderation,  so  as 
to  revile  no  man."  "  I  marvel  not,"  he  adds,  alluding 
to  the  calumnious  charges  brought  against  himself, 
"  that  my  enemies  distort  my  doctrine  :  have  not  even 
the  letters  of  Paul  been  wrested  ?"t  Origen  never 
swerved  from  this  Christian  magnanimity,  and  he 
remains  the  model  of  the  theologian  persecuted  by 
haughty  bigotry.  Gentle  as  Fenelon  under  hierarchical 
anathemas,  he  maintained  his  convictions  without 
faltering,  and  neither  retracted  nor  rebelled. 

Epiphanes,  the  passionate  enemy  of  every  one  on 
whom  rested  the  shadow  of  heresy,  sought  to  blacken 
the  reputation  of  Origen  by  a  vile  slander,  relating  to 
his  departure  from  Alexandria.     He   'asserted  that  he 

*  "  Quorum  magis  misereri  quam  eos  odisse  debemus,  et 
orare  pro  illis,  quam  eis  maledicere.  Ad  benedicendum  enim  et 
non  ad  maledicendum  creati  sumus."  ("  Epist.  Origen  ad  Amic. 
Alexand.,"  I.  3 )  flbid. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   319 

had  been  carried  before  the  altar  of  the  false  gods,  and 
that  the  choice  had  been  offered  him  between  an  im- 
pious sacrifice  and  an  act  of  abomination.  Origen,  it 
was  said,  preferring  purity  to  fidelity,  had  fallen  into 
apostasy.*  This  story  will  not  bear  a  moment's  exami- 
nation, and  is  unsupported  by  any  direct  testimony.  It 
has  all  the  weight  of  moral  probability  against  it,  and 
is  emphatically  belied  by  the  welcome  given  to  Origen 
by  the  Churches  of  Palestine.  It  was  at  Csesarea  he 
was  to  attain  his  full  maturity  of  mental  power,  and  to 
write  his  greatest  works. 

He  had  not  as  yet  trodden  the  soil  rendered  sacred 
by  the  great  scenes  of  the  world's  redemption.  He  had 
long  had  a  great  desire  to  visit  these  spots,  so  hallowed 
in  history.  He  sought  to  drink  deeply  into  the  spirit 
of  that  glorious  past,  and  to  revive  his  drooping  courage 
by  meditating  in  view  of  Calvary,  on  the  cost  of  serving 
faithfully  a  despised  cause.  This  journey  was  also  to 
assist  him  in  his  labours,  by  permitting  him  to  see  with 
his  own  eyes  those  towns  and  villages  of  Galilee,  where 
the  Divine  words  were  spoken  which  were  the  subject 
of  his  Commentaries.  He  delivered  several  homilies 
at  Jerusalem  before  Bishop  Alexander,  taking  for 
his  text  the  first  book  of  Samuel.  His  later  Com- 
mentaries bear  many  traces  of  this  journey  ;  he  rectifies 
some  received  opinions  by  information  acquired  on  the 
scenes  of  the  sacred  story. t 

After  a  short  sojourn  in  Palestine,  he  settled  at 
Csesarea,  and  there  recommenced  his  labours.  His 
new  school  soon  became  as  flourishing  as  that  at 
Alexandria.  Once  again,  wealth,  intellectual  and 
moral  power,  and  earnest  piety,  acknowledged  the 
attraction   of  his   teaching.     But    quiet    studies    could 

*  Epiphanes,  "  Hceres  ,"  lxiv.     t  Redepenning,  "  Origen,"  II.  7,  8. 


320  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

not  be  long  pursued  in  this  period  of  conflict.  The 
persecution  which  burst  forth  under  Maximinus  broke 
up  the  gatherings  of  master  and  disciples.*  Origen 
had  the  grief  of  seeing  his  friend  Ambrose  cast  into 
prison.  He  wrote  to  him  on  this  occasion  his  treatise 
on  .Martyrdom,  in  which  we  catch  the  prolonged  echo 
of  the  manly  words,  which  in  childhood  he  sent  to  his 
captive  father:   "  Flinch  not  for  us  !" 

Origen  found  a  place  of  refuge  in  Cappadocia,  first 
with  Bishop  Firmilianus,  then  in  the  house  of  a  rich 
lady  named  Juliana,  who  had  inherited  the  library  of 
Symmachus,  the  Syriac  translator  of  the  Old  Testament. 
This  was  a  rich  resource  for  Origen.  He  passed  two 
years  in  this  retirement,  and  it  was  from  thence  he 
wrote  his  treatise  on  Prayer,  in  which,  after  setting 
forth  that  which  might  be  called  the  general  theory  of 
prayer,  and  showing  how  it  practically  solves  the  great 
duality  of  Divine  grace  and  human  freedom,  he  gives  an 
eloquent  paraphrase  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  trace  in  this  composition,  the  thoughts  which  were 
pressing  on  his  own  mind  at  the  time.  Was  he  not 
thinking  of  all  the  persecutions  of  which  he  had  just 
been  the  subject,  when  he  so  earnestly  urged  on  Christians 
forgetfulness  of  injuries?  "  Let  us  remember,"  he  says, 
"all  our  offences  against  God,  how  we  have  added  sin 
to  sin  by  our  words,  by  our  ignorance  of  the  truth,  by 
our  murmurings  at  that  which  has  befallen  us."t  It 
was  a  delicate  and  generous  manner  of  humbling  him- 
self for  the  errors  which  might  have  crept  into  his 
doctrine.  Everything  in  this  treatise  is  adapted  to  a 
time  of  persecution.  Origen  revived  the  courage  of  the 
Christians  by  setting  before  them  the  example  of  the 
great  sufferer  of  the  Old  Testament,  Job,  whom  he  well 
*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxviii.     f  Origen,  "  De  Oratione,"  xxviii. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    32I 

styles  the  athlete  of  virtue.*  Finally,  he  comforts  the 
Church — well-nigh  overwhelmed  with  tribulation  and 
anguish — by  the  sublime  thought  of  the  mysterious 
bond,  which  in  these  dark  days  links  it  to  the  blessed 
and  to  the  angels.  "  The  first  of  Christian  virtues," 
says  Origen,  "  being  charity  towards  our  neighbour, 
must  we  not  believe  that  the  saints  in  bliss  have  even 
a  greater  love  for  their  brethren  who  struggle  and 
suffer  in  this  present  life,  than  those  can  have  who  are 
still  compassed  with  human  infirmity  ?  Are  they  not 
our  heavenly  allies  in  the  great  warfare  ?  It  is  not  here 
below  alone  that  we  may  say  :  '  If  one  member  suffer, 
all  the  members  suffer  with  it.'  It  is  meet  that 
glorified  love  should  in  its  turn  say  with  St.  Paul :  '  I 
have  upon  me  the  care  of  all  the  churches.  Who  is 
weak,  and  I  am  not  weak?  Who  is  offended,  and  I  burn 
not  ?'  Has  not  Christ  Himself  said  that  He  is  bound 
in  the  person  of  His  prisoners  ?"t  Thus  the  Christian 
captive  sees  beside  him  not  alone  his  gaolers  and  the 
rough  soldiers  to  whom  he  is  bound  ;  he  feels  himself 
in  the  company  also  of  angels  and  of  the  blessed,  and 
in  the  beautiful  figure  used  by  Origen,  the  ladder  of 
light  which  Jacob  saw,  comes  down  to  him  from,  heaven 
in  the  hour  of  prayer. 

The  persecution  under  Maximinus  having  ceased  at 
his  death  in  the  year  238,  Origen  returned  to  Caesarea. 
We  find  him  soon  after  at  Nicomedia,  where  he  had  a 
conference  with  a  heretic  named  fiassus.  His  letter  to 
Julius  Africanus  was  written  in  consequence  of  this  con- 
ference, to  justify  himself  to  that  teacher  for  the  use  he 
had  made  in  the  discussion  of  the  apocryphal  book  of 

*  Origen   says,  in   speaking  of    the    defeat  of  Satan  by  Job  : 
N<  i-iKtjfikvog  into  ri]Q  dptrfjs  ddXijTov.     ("  De  Oratione,"  xxviii.) 
f  Ibid.,  xii. 


322      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

Susannah.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  in  this  exegetical 
controversy,  Julius  Africanus  was  the  defender  of  the 
cause  of  truth,  in  opposition  to  Origen,  who  was  much 
too  docile  to  ecclesiastical  tradition  on  this  par- 
ticular point.  We  do  not  know  what  circumstance  led 
him  again  to  Athens.  It  was  in  that  city — where  St. 
Paul's  penetrating  eye  had  discerned,  in  the  inscription 
over  the  altar  of  the  unknown  God,  the  dim  yearning 
of  the  pagan  breast  after  the  religion  of  Christ — that 
Origen  wrote  the  most  poetical  of  his  works,  his 
"Commentary  on  the  Song  of  Songs."*  Regarding 
the  human  soul  as  the  bride  of  the  Word,  for  whom 
it  had  been  created,  he  interprets  the  brilliant  mea- 
sures of  the  Hebrew  poet  as  the  tender  and  passionate 
expression  of  the  yearnings  of  conscience  after  the 
heavenly  Bridegroom.  The  same  spirit  which  animated 
Paul's  sermon  at  Athens  breathes  in  these  pages,  in 
which  the  paraphrase  rises  to  the  height  of  inspired 
poetry. 

On  his  return  to  Csesarea,  Origen  zealously  pursued 
his  exegetical  labours.  It  was  at  this  time  he  com- 
pleted his  "Commentary  on  St.  John,"  and  continued 
or  commenced  his  commentaries  on  the  other  Gospels 
and  the 'Epistles ;  those  which  he  wrote  on  Isaiah  and 
Ezekiel  belong  also  to  this  period. t  One  very  remark- 
able circumstance  gave  fresh  proof  of  the  weight  of 
his  moral  influence  in  the  Church.  A  heresy,  which 
threatened  to  become  dangerous,  had  just  manifested 
itself  at  Bostra  in  Arabia.  It  originated  with  Beryl, 
the  bishop  of  that  city,  who  had  fallen  into  serious  error. 
He  denied  the  distinction  of  the  Divine  persons,  and 
regarded  Jesus  Christ  as  nothing  more  than  the  perfect 
manifestation  of  the  one  God.     He  had  been  led  to  this 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxxii.  f  Ibid.,  VI.  xxviii 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        323 

idea,  which  assailed  the  very  foundations  of  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  by  the  exaggerated  views  of  an  opposite 
character,  maintained  by  the  sect  of  the  Ecelsaites 
— an  offshoot  of  ancient  Essenism.  The  development 
of  the  faith  had  not  been  sound  and  well-balanced  in 
these  regions.  Although  Paul,  immediately  on  his  con- 
version, had  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  nomad  tribes 
of  Arabia,  the  ascetic  and  theosophic  Judaism  of  the 
Essenes  had  always  exerted  the  paramount  influence  in 
that  country.  The  combination  of  a  narrow  mind  and 
an  ardent  imagination  must  infallibly  result  in  dangerous 
errors.  Thus,  Christianity  had  early  assumed  strange 
and  incongruous  forms  on  these  hot  desert  sands.  The 
distinction  of  the  Divine  personalities  had  become  a 
coarse  tritheism.  The  Bishop  of  Bostra,  in  opposing 
this  error,  which  amounted  to  a  return  to  polytheism, 
had  assailed  the  great  dogma  of  the  Incarnation,  deny- 
ing the  pre-existence  of  the  Word,  and  consequently  the 
full  Divinity  of  jesus  Christ.  A  synod  had  been  called 
to  confirm  or  reject  his  doctrine,  and  he  had  been  con- 
demned ;  but  he  was  not  disposed  to  yield,  and  a  schism 
was  imminent.  The  bishops  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
synod  were  his  judges,  not  his  enemies.  They  sincerely 
desired  to  bring  him  back  into  the  right  path,  for  his 
piety  and  uprightness  were  beyond  question.  They 
thought  they  could  not  do  better  than  commit  this 
noble  task  to  the  great  excommunicated  teacher  of 
Alexandria.  They  felt  that  if  free  persuasion  was  to  be 
substituted  for  external  authority,  there  was  no  man  so 
fit  as  Origen  to  lead  back  into  the  true  faith  a  sincere, 
though  erring  soul.  Himself  a  sufferer  from  hierarchi- 
cal censure,  his  sympathy  might  be  relied  on  ;  he  would 
be  no  organ  of  the  decrees  of  council,  but  would  enter 
into  the  contest  with  fair  and  equal  weapons.    In  truth, 


324      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

he  was  all  the  greater  for  that  in  which  he  seemed 
to-  be  lacking;  his  power  was  in  his  weakness,  for  all 
that  is  subtracted  of  external  and  coercive  force,  is  so 
much  added  to  the  force  of  persuasion.  "  Origen,"  says 
Eusebius,  "  after  holding  some  free  conversation  with 
Beryl,  in  order  rightly  to  understand  his  views,  and  after 
inquiring  into  his  error,  convinced  him  by  argument, 
and  by  fair  discussion  took  him  as  it  were  by  the  hand, 
and  led  him  back  into  the  way  of  truth."*  Abundant 
success  thus  crowned  the  mission  of  Origen,  and  the 
Church  might  learn  from  the  example  of  this  restored 
heretic,  the  uselessness  of  coercive  measures  and  the 
power  of  free  persuasion.  Would  to  God  she  had 
remembered  this  in  all  her  conflicts  against  error — con- 
flicts so  often  rendered  of  no  avail  by  the  contrary  mode 
of  procedure  !  A  short  time  subsequently,  a  new  heresy 
broke  forth  in  Arabia,  the  substance  of  which  was  that  the 
human  body  would  be  destroyed  at  death,  to  be  created 
a  second  time  at  the  resurrection.  Origen  was  charged 
by  the  bishops  of  the  country,  to  refute  publicly  this 
opinion  in  a  synod  convened  for  the  purpose.  He  was 
no  less  successful  in  this  honourable  mission.  "  He 
argued,"  says  Eusebius,  "  with  such  force  that  he  led 
the  heretics  to  repudiate  their  error."  +  The  two 
dialogues  on  the  Resurrection,  which  are  ascribed  to 
him  by  St.  Jerome,  may  have  been  written  on  this 
occasion.  X 

The  empire  had  passed,  in  the  year  244,  from  Gordian 
the  Younger  to  Philip  the  Arabian,  his  praetorian  pre- 

*  *Qc  8k  tyvio  o  ti  xai  Xtyoi,  evBvvag  fxi]  opdoco^ovvra  \oyo<j[it>j  re 
iriiaag  icai  cnroSciZti  avct\ctj36j)>  avrov,  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  Vl.xxxiii.) 
Redepenning  has  treated  very  completely  all  that  relates  to  this 
discussion.     ("  Origen/'  II.  74.) 

f  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxxvii. 

I  Apud  Rufin.,  "Adv.  Hieronym.,  invectiv.,"  II. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   325 

feet.  This  prince,  violent  and  cruel  in  his  general 
conduct,  showed  himself  well-disposed  towards  the 
Christians.  If  his  conversion  to  Christianity  must  be 
regarded  as  fabulous,  it  is  none  the  less  certain  that  he 
was,  like  Alexander  Severus,  a  protector  of  the  proscribed 
religion,  probably  through  the  same  sort  of  religious 
eclecticism,  which  did  not,  however,  exert  the  same 
restraining  influence  over  his  moral  character.  Origen 
addressed  a  letter  to  him,  as  well  as  to  his  wife,  Severa, 
designed  doubtless  to  make  him  better  acquainted  with 
a  religion  to  which  he  showed  a  favour  at  that  time 
very  rare.* 

During  this  period  of  calm  in  the  Church's  history, 
Origen  wrote  his  great  apologetic  work.  Versed  as  he 
was  in  the  philosophy  of  his  time,  he  knew  well  all  it 
had  to  urge  in  objection  to  the  new  religion.  He  knew 
that  its  attacks  tended  to  become  every  day  more 
violent ;  his  ear  was  open  to  its  derisive  laughter,  no 
less  than  to  its  passionate  accusations.  For  many 
years  he  had  been  replying  to  both  in  the  course  of  his 
teaching.  The  moment  was  come  to  bind  together 
in  one  all  the  arguments  which  he  had  so  often  pre- 
sented, and  to  plead  broadly  before  the  world  the  cause 
of  Christianity.  He  had  himself  arrived  at  his  full 
maturity  of  mind  and  soul,  and,  the  master  of  his  age 
no  less  in  knowledge  than  in  faith,  he  could  draw  from 
the  rich  treasury  of  his  vast  erudition.  He  had  now 
the  vigour  of  ripe  manhood,  while  he  still  retained  the 
fire  of  youth.  The  enemies  whom  he  sought  to 
combat  were  perfectly  known  to  him,  and  he  was 
wanting  in  no  weapon  needed  for  the  fight.  The 
Church  had  never  yet  had  a  defender  so  thoroughly 
armed.  He  was  not  the  young  Hebrew  shepherd 
*    *  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxvi. 


326  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OE   CHRISTIANITY. 

going  forth  to  meet  the  giant  with  a  sling  and  a  stone ; 
he  was  a  mighty  man  of  valour,  handling  all  the 
weapons  of  his  adversaries,  and  surpassing  them  in 
knowledge  and  dialectic  skill,  while,  nevertheless,  he 
cherished  in  his  heart  that  which  constituted  the  true 
strength  of  David — a  deep  and  true  faith,  a  child-like 
confidence  in  God.  The  philosopher  whose  attacks  he 
repels,  seems  to  have  lived  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  and 
to  have  professed  rather  a  vague  eclecticism  than  any 
settled  doctrine.  Origen  chose  to  reply  especially  to 
Celsus,  because  this  opponent  had  the  art  of  combining 
in  his  book  all  the  charges  brought  against  Christianity, 
whether  coming  from  Judaism  or  Paganism.  He  had 
allowed  no  insinuation  to  pass  unrecorded — neither  the 
calumnies  of  popular  superstition,  nor  the  sophistries 
of  the  schools.  Origen's  book,  "  Contra  Celsum,"  had 
thus  the  advantage  of  encountering  anti- Christianity 
under  all  its  forms,  and  overthrowing  it  with  a  single 
blow.  m  Written  very  rapidly,  at  the  pressing  instance 
of  Ambrose,  it  has  no  regular  method.  Origen  wished 
to  re-write  it,  but  time  failed  him.  It  remains,  neverthe- 
less, the  master-piece  of  ancient  apology,  for  solidity 
of  basis,  vigour  of  argument,  and  breadth  of  eloquent 
exposition.  The  apologists  of  every  age  were  to  find  in 
it  an  inexhaustible  mine,  as  well  as  an  incomparable 
model  of  that  royal,  moral  method  inaugurated  by 
St.  Paul  and  St.  John,  which  alone  can  answer  its  end, 
because  it  alone  carries  the  conflict  into  the  heart  and 
conscience,  to  the  very  centre,  that  is,  of  the  higher  life 
in  man. 

Origen  gives  evidence  in  this  work,  as  in  all  that  he 
did,  of  the  high  tone^  of  feeling  by  which  he  was 
animated.  "  God  grant,"  he  wrote,  at  the  close  of  his 
fourth  book,   "  in  the  name  of  His   Son*,  who   is  God, 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        327 

who  is  the  Word,  wisdom,  truth,  righteousness,  that, 
enlightened  by  this  Divine  Word,  I  may  order,  and 
happily  achieve  my  fifth  book,  for  the  greatest  good  of 
my  readers."*  Again  he  says  :  "  May  it  please  God 
that  I  may  with  my  word  penetrate  the  conscience  of 
those  who  have  read  Celsus,  and  draw  forth  the  dart 
with  which  every  one  is  wounded  who  is  not  armed  with 
the  love  of  God,  and  pour  into  the  wound  the  balm 
which  is  able  to  heal !  "t  No  intellectual  advantage 
could  have  taken  the  place  of  an  inspiration  so  pure 
and  elevated ;  it  added  to  the  force  of  the  argument 
used  to  convince,  the  force  of  the  love  which  constrains. 
We  have  now  reached  the  culminating  point  in  the 
career  of  Origen.  The  larger  part  of  his  great  works 
are  completed  ;  he  is  in  all  the  fulness  of  his  noble 
faculties.  This  is  the  moment  to  estimate,  not  his 
theological  system — an  exposition  of  which  would  be  out 
of  place  here — but  the  qualities  and  defects  of  his  great 
mind  in  religious  philosophy,  in  his  exegesis  of  the 
sacred  books,  and  in  his  general  teaching.  Origen 
possessed  in  the  highest  degree  breadth  of  thought ;  he 
desired  to  bring  under  the  dominion  of  Christ  all  the 
spheres  of  knowledge — the  past  of  humanity,  as  well  as 
its  future.  But  it  may  be  asked,  did  he  achieve  all 
that  he  desired  ?  or,  did  he  not  more  than  once  fall 
under  the  influence  of  the  very  errors  which  he  aimed 
to  confute  ?  It  seems  to  us  evident  that  if  he  was 
right  in  recognising,  with  Clement,  the  providential 
mission  of  the  ancient  philosophy,  he  nevertheless 
gave  too  large  a  place  to  it  in  his  system.  The  mantle 
of  the  Platonist  philosopher  too  often  conceals  the 
Christian,  and  he  bears  too  plainly  the  marks  of  the 
disciple  of  Ammonius  Saccas. 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  IV.  xcix.  f  Ibid  ,  V.  i. 


328  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

The  great  reproach  to  be  brought  against  him,  as 
against  the  Platonic  philosophy  in  all  its  forms,  is  an 
undue  depreciation  of  the  real,  the  tendency  to  an 
excessive  idealism,  which  distorts  that  which  it  seeks 
to  transfigure,  and  which,  starting  from  the  rejection 
or  condemnation  of  the  corporeal  element,  concludes 
with  despising  all  realities — all  facts,  that  is  to  say — 
and  substituting  for  them  chimeras  or  dreams.  The 
ideal  world,  peopled  with  the  phantoms  of  a  speculative 
imagination,  is  preferred  to  the  Divine  creation,  in 
which  the  true  ideal  appears  clothed  in  the  vesture  of 
the  real.  This  tendency,  recognisable  even  in  Plato 
himself,  reaches  its  ultimatum  in  Neo-Platonism,  and 
in  the  Gnosticism  of  the  time,  and  although  in  Origen 
it  was  restrained  by  very  positive  beliefs,  it  nevertheless 
exerted  over  him  a  great  and  lamentable  influence.  He 
himself  treated  with  too  much  scorn,  not  only  the 
corporeal  element  for  which  he  always  professed  a 
truly  Platonic  repugnance,  but  real  facts  also.  Hence 
the  strange  transformations  which  he  causes  to  pass 
upon  Christian  doctrine  and  the  Gospel  history.  He 
constantly  forsakes  the  terra  firma  of  fact,  to  soar  into 
the  cloudy  region  of  allegory.  Hence,  also,  the  capital 
error  of  his  system  of  interpretation,  his  famous  theory 
of  the  triple  meaning  of  Scripture.  Distinguishing 
between  the  literal,  the  typical,  and  the  remote  signifi- 
cation, he  avails  himself  of  inexhaustible  resources  to 
escape  the  difficulties  of  the  text,  and  does  not  see  that 
he  often  misses  the  true  treasure  it  contains,  and  reads 
a  Bible  of  his  own  invention — a  human  book  within  the 
Book  of  God.  It  is  vain  for  him  to  liken  literal  inter- 
pretation to  Lot's  wife  changed  into  a  pillar  of  salt ;  it 
is,  after  all,  more  beautiful  and  more  fruitful  than  the 
allegorical,  which  might  be  more  fairly  compared  to  the 


BOOK  II.  — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   329 

carrying  of  a  pagan  statue  into  the  temple  of  God,  so 
much  does  it  facilitate  the  intrusion  of  alien  concep- 
tions into  the  true  worship.  It  was,  doubtless,  highly 
agreeable  to  Origen  to  dispose  of  the  polygamy  of  the 
patriarchs,  by  saying  that  each  new  wife  taken  by  them 
represented  the  acquirement  of  some  new  virtue,*  but 
this  same  system  of  interpretation  often  led  him  to 
miss  obvious  and  important  meanings.  He  complains 
that  the  friends  of  the  letter  have  mixed  sand  with 
the  pure  stream  of  his  allegorical  exegesis,  like  the 
Philistines  who  filled  up  the  wells  of  Isaac, t  and  he 
never  dreams  that  of  all  the  forces  which  dry  up  the 
fountain  of  truth,  none  is  so  effectual  as  exaggerated 
allegorism. 

This  tendency  to  idealise  would  have  been  yet  more 
fatal  in  its  effect  on  Origen  had  it  not  been  modified 
by  the  earnestness  of  his  belief.  He  was  kept  in  the 
right  line  of  the  Christian  faith  by  the  depth  of  his 
religious  feeling.  Although  he  was  beyond  question 
one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his  age,  he  never 
bowed  the  knee  before  that  idol  of  science  which  was 
then  worshipped  by  Greek  philosophy  and  exalted  by 
Gnostic  heresy.  He  ever  put  conscience  above  science, 
and  moral  freedom  circulates  like  a  life-giving  current 
through  all  his  system.  He  was  its  most  ardent  and 
able  champion.  His  ideal  of  liberty  was  not  that  of 
the  Pagan  or  the  Pelagian,  which  is  nothing  better 
than  a  challenge  flung  by  the  creature  at  the  Creator, 
and  the  insurrection  of  a  pride  no  less  impotent  than 
insolent.  Liberty,  as  he  conceives  of  it,  is  the  first 
of  the  gifts  of  God ;  it  is  real  only  in  so  far  as  it 
is  verified  and  made    fruitful    by   Him,   and   the    first 

*  Origen,  "Opera,"  II.  91. 

t  "  In  Gen.,"  Horn.  XIII.     "Opera,"  II.  95. 

22 


330  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

work  of  Christ  was  to  restore  it.  Origen  never  wan- 
dered from  the  path  of  true  Christian  theism.  We 
feel  that  to  this  his  heart  bound  him,  and  that  his 
belief  was  on  this  point  the  expression  of  his  re- 
ligious life.  We  need  say  no  more  than  we  have 
already  said  of  the  elevation  and  nobility  of  his  cha- 
racter, nor  of  that  noble  passion  for  the  ideal  which 
consumed  him.  We  will  content  ourselves  with 
quoting  two  or  three  passages  from  his  writings, 
which  show  what  was  the  animating  spirit  of  his 
theology. 

In  one  of  his  Commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  he  de- 
clares that  ignorance  is  preferable  to  false  science,  that 
the  just  man  who  knows  nothing  of  human  sciences  is 
a  far  higher  being  than  he  who  knows  all,  and  knows 
not  God.*  He  desires,  however,  that  the  Christian 
should  feel  a  noble  ardour  after  truth.  "  If,"  he  says, 
"the  Christian  can  learn  to  know  equally  well  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  so  as  to  give  an  account  of  all 
that  is  written,  he  will  be  truly  rich  in  every  good 
word  and  work."  Origen,  as  we  know,  spared  himself 
no  labour  to  attain  to  the  possession  of  these  highest 
riches.  We  have  described  his  sleepless  vigils,  passed 
in  the  pursuit  of  all  the  knowledge  possible  to  be 
gained,  but  even  more  worthy  of  admiration  is  the 
scrupulous  conscientiousness  which  he  carried  into  his 
investigations.  He  constantly  referred  to  Jews  upon 
questions  of  their  tongue.  He  spared  neither  toil  nor 
trouble  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  a  difficult  passage. 
He  studied  sacred  geography  in  Palestine  itself.  One 
day,  desiring  to  know  the   name  of  a  tree  mentioned 

*  "  Melius  est  ergo  hoc  modicum  fidei  justo  super  divitias 
peccatorum  multas  quas  habent  in  eloquentia  ac  sapientia  hujus 
seculi."     ("Opera,"  II. '666.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        33I 

in  the  Bible,  he  took  some  boughs  to  some  Jews  of  his 
acquaintance,  that  they  might  inform  him  correctly 
about  it.* 

Never  in  all  his  vast  studies  did  he  lose  sight  of  the 
sacred  end  of  all  religious  knowledge,  never  did  he 
become  self-elated,  "  If  a  man,"  he  says  in  one  of  his 
homilies  on  Genesis,  ''puts  out  to  sea  in  a  little  boat, 
he  at  first  fears  nothing  so  much  as  grazing  on  the 
shallow  shore  ;  but  when  he  has  presently  come  into 
deep  waters,  when  the  big  waves  swell  around  him, 
sometimes  tossing  him  on  their  seething  crests,  some- 
times plunging  him  into  the  deeps,  then  a  great  fear 
comes  upon  him,  seeing  that  he  has  committed  himself 
in  so  frail  a  skiff  on  to  such  stormy  seas.  Such  are  we, 
we  who,  utterly  devoid  of  merit,  have  dared  to  launch 
our  feeble  mind  upon  this  great  sea  of  Divine  mysteries. 
But  if  through  our  prayers  our- sails  are  filled  with  the 
favouring  winds  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  shall  arrive  safe 
in  port."t  He.  put  all  his  trust  in  the  invocation  of 
Divine  aid.  "  Study,"  he  said,  "  will  not  suffice  for 
the  learning  of  the  Holy  Scriptures;  we  must  entreat 
God  day  and  night,  in  order  that  the  Lion  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah  may  come  to  us  and  deign  to  open  the  seal 
of  the  Book." J 

He  repeatedly  commends  himself  to  the  prayers  of 
his  hearers.  "This  passage  of  Scripture,"  we  read 
in  a  homily  on  Leviticus,  "is  very  bard  to  explain, 
but   we  shall  be  able   to   interpret  it   if  you  ask  God, 

*  Ouk  oXiyoig  'Efipaioig  avtB'tf.ii]V  TrvvQavvntvog.  ("Epist.  ad  Afric," 
vi.   "  Opera,"'  I.  xviii.) 

t  "  Ita  etiam  nos  pati  videmur,  qui  exigui  mentis  et  ingenio 
tenues,  iniri  tarn  vastum  niysteriorum  pelagus  audemus."  ("In 
Gen.,"'  Horn.  II.  i.    "Opera,"  II.  84.) 

I  "  Supplicandum  domino  et  diebus  ac  noctibus  obsecrandum." 
("  In  Exod.,"  xii.  4.     "  Opera,"  II.  174.) 


332  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

the  Father  of  the  Word,  to  enlighten  us."*  He  never 
belies  this  humility,  and  in  his  boldest  speculations 
betrays  none  of  the  pride  of  intellect.  "  Would  to 
God,"  he  exclaims,  "that  I  might  pass  for  mad  in  the 
eyes  of  the  unbelieving!  "t  A  profound  and  reverent 
love  for  the  word  inspired  all  his  theology ;  it  was 
because  he  loved  that  he  longed  so  much  to  know,  and 
all  his  knowledge  he  sought  to  gain  by  love. 

In  his  "  Commentary  on  St.  John,"  he  has  himself 
given  us  the  secret  of  this  high  theology.  "  I  think," 
he  says,  in  reference  to  the  last  supper,  "that  there 
is  a  symbol  in  the  fact  that  John  leaned  on  the  bosom 
of  Jesus.  It  signifies  that  having  given  himself  to  the 
Word,  and  having  plunged  into  its  depths,  he  was  in 
the  bosom  of  the  eternal  Word,  as  that  Word  Himself 
was  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father. "J  Such  was  the 
sublime  conception  which  Origen  cherished  of  Christian 
knowledge.  He  would  that  it  should  lean  upon  the 
breast  of  Christ,  that  by  love  it  might  fathom  the 
mysteries  of  the  hidden  wisdom  of  God.  If  in  his  desire 
to  magnify  Divine  love,  he  went  so  far  as  to  declare 
the  ultimate  restoration  of  all  things,  with  an  assurance 
not  warranted  by  Scripture,  such  universalism  as  he 
professed  can  never  be  placed  on  the  same  level  with 
those  convenient  systems  which  sacrifice  the  moral 
law ;  for  that  law  is  the  constant  pivot  of  all  his  ideas, 
and  however  large  a  reserve  we  make  for  his  errors, 
he  yet  remains  the  ideal  of  the  Christian  theologian. 

*  "  Ipso  donante  potcrit  explicari."  (''  In  Levit.,"  Horn.  XII.  iv. 
"Opera,"  II.  25.) 

t  "  Utinam  ab  infidclibus  stultus  dicar."  ("  In  Luc,"  Horn. 
VII.  "Opera,"  III.  390.; 

X  To  (TVfii3o\iKOv  rovro   Treplarrjaiv,  on  'lioavviiQ  avaKtifievog  Tip  Xoyqt 
teal  toiq   nvcrriKioTipotg  ivairav6f.in'OQ  aviiceiTO   iv  Tolg  k6\7Toiq  rob  \6yov, 
avciXoyov  riji  Kcd  avrbv  tlvai  iv  to~iq  koXttoiq  tov  TrarpoQ.      ("  In   Johann, 
Horn.  XXXII.  "  Opera,"  IV.  431.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    333 

Realising  all  that  he  teaches,  carrying  into  his  specu- 
lations the  fire  of  an  ardent  conviction,  ambitious  of 
knowledge,  not  through  pride  but  through  genuine 
love  of  truth,  he  unites  the  breadth  of  a  great  mind  to 
the  austerity  of  an  ascetic  life.  He  shows  himself  ready 
to  seal  his  faith  by  an  ignominious  death,  no  less  than 
to  suffer  for  it  the  painful  persecution  inflicted  on  him 
within  the  Church  by  sectarian  narrowness  ;  and  under 
this  double  martyrdom  he  remains  invariably  faithful  to 
the  truth  which  has  taken  full  possession  of  his  soul. 

If  after  thus  regarding  him  as  a  theologian,  we  pass 
to  his  character  as  a  master  and  professor,  we  shall 
not  enter  at  all  into  the  substance  of  his  teaching, 
which  would  lead  us  back  into  theology,  but  shall  speak 
of  the  impression  produced  by  him  upon  his  disciples. 
In  this  respect  we  have  not  to  rely  on  historical  infer- 
ences, which  may  be  more  or  less  exact ;  we  have  a 
direct  testimony.  A  young  disciple  of  Origen,  who 
long  listened  to  his  instruction  at  Cassarea,  and  who 
became  subsequently  illustrious  in  the  Church  under 
the  name  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  has  left  us  the 
vivid  expression  of  his  admiration  for  the  great  teacher, 
in  a  farewell  address,  delivered  when  he  was  on  the 
eve  Of  returning  to  his  own  country.*  This  address, 
though  slightly  over-emphatic,  and  bearing  throughout 
the  impress  of  juvenile  enthusiasm,  gives  us  the  plan 
of  Origen's  teaching.  It  shows  over  what  a  vast  field 
he  led  his  disciples,  in  order  to  bring  them  gradually  to 
the  highest  verities  of  the  Christian  religion.  He  began 
by  thoroughly  examining  the  ground  into  which  the 
seed  was  to  be  cast,  that  he  might  know  its  advantages 
and  its  deficiencies.     By  free  intercourse,  he  made  him- 

*  This  address  is  inserted  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  works  of 
Origen,  p.  55  of  the  Appendix. 


334  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

self  familiar  with  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition 
of  those  who  came  to  sit  at  his  feet.  "  Like  a  skilful 
husbandman,  he  did  not  pause  at  that  which  is  visible 
and  superficial,  but  delved  into  the  soil  to  discover  what 
it  concealed,  putting  questions  and  problems,  and  wait- 
ing our  replies."*  He  did  not  enter  on  his  regular 
teaching  till  after  this  preliminary  examination.  He 
sought  first  to  give  an  exact  definition  of  the  terms 
used  in  the  school,  being  assured  that  his  task 
would  be  thus  simplified,  and  many  misunderstandings 
avoided.  By  this  very  simple  means  he  rectified  the 
ideas  of  his  hearers  on  some  important  points,  and 
trained  their  minds  to  the  severe  forms  of  sound  logic. 
From  dialectics  he  passed  to  the  natural  sciences, 
mathematics,  and  astronomy.  He  doubtless  fell  into 
some  of  the  errors  of  his  time,  but  in  spite  of  his 
imperfect  knowledge,  he  elicited  immortal  truths, 
showing  the  miracle  of  Divine  wisdom  in  creation. t 
He  was  impatient  to  rise  from  this  lower  world, 
however  beautiful,  to  the  higher  sphere  in  which 
reigns  the  law  of  liberty.  To  moral  science  he  devoted 
peculiar  care.  He  established  the  notion  of  the 
essential  good,  and  showed  how  this  found  its  realisa- 
tion in  the  four  great  virtues  enumerated  by  Plato; 
but  he  breathed  into  this  old  form  the  new  and  Divine 
breath  of  the  Gospel,  and  gave  a  unity  to  the  idea  of 
the  four  virtues,  by  making  them  all  converge  to  the 
virtue  in  which  all  others  meet — the  love  of  God. 

When  he  had  thus  prepared  the  mind  of  his  disciple, 
Origen  bade  him  launch  on  to  the  wide  sea  of  human 
opinions.     "  He  desired  him  to  devote  himself  to  philo- 


*  KctTavouiv,   ov   to.  Traaiv  optoptva,  avopirruv,  IpwTwv  Kai  irpoTtivuv 
(Origen.  "  Opera,"  IV.,  Append.,  66  ) 
f  '  Itpag  oiKovofxiaQ  Qavpa.    (Ibid.,  67.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   335 

sophy,  and  not  to  neglect  either  the  ancient  poets 
or  the  ancient  philosophers,  rejecting  absolutely  the 
books* of  atheists  alone.  This  profound  investigation 
of  the  whole  of  ancient  literature,  pursued  under  the 
direction  of  such  a  master,  led  the  disciple  to  form  for 
himself  a  general  judgment  of  antiquity,  a  just  and 
equitable  appreciation  of  its  religious  and  philosophical 
systems.  "He  himself,"  says  Gregory,  "went  before 
us,  and  led  us  by  the  hand  along  the  path  to  be 
pursued.  His  practical  eye  discovered  error,  however 
subtle;  but  he  pointed  out  with  joy  the  truths  which 
might  be  discerned  through  it.  Finally,  after  having 
thus,  to  good  purpose,  detained  his  disciples  awhile 
in  the  porch  of  the  sanctuary,  he  led  them  within,  and 
opened  to  them  the  temple  of  the  Scriptures,  urging 
them  to  give  heed  only  to  God  and  to  his  prophets."* 
All  his  theology  was  based  upon  Scripture ;  he 
simply  commented  on  the  sacred  text,  but  he  did  so 
with  such  authority,  that  Gregory  recognises  the  same 
spirit  in  the  word  of  the  interpreter  of  the  prophets 
as  in  the  prophets  themselves. t 

That  which  constituted  the  power  of  this  teaching 
was  not  its  marvellous  art,  nor  its  elevation,  nor  its 
science  ;  it  was  the  personal  influence  of  the  master 
himself.  Gregory  is  never  weary  of  this  theme  ;  he 
delights  to  paint  in  brightest  colours  his  first  im- 
pressions on  listening  to  Origen.  He  had  come  to 
Caesarea  from  a  remote  district  of  Pontus,  accompanying 
his  sister,  who  was  married  to  a  magistrate  of  that  city. 
He  purposed  to  stay  there  only  a  few  days,  but  he  was 
enchained,  as  was  also  his  brother,  who  travelled  with 


*  Movtfi  tt  xpo«ri\f/f0f<p,  teal  toIq  tovtov  7Tpo(piiraig.  (Origen,  "Opera," 
IV.,  Append.,  74.)  .      t   Ibid. 


33^  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

him,  by  the  eloquent  and  persuasive  words  of  Origen. 
Origen  first  won  them  over  to  the  study  of  philosophy, 
which  he  recommended  to  them  in  general  but  pressing 
terms ;  then  he  led  them  on  to  that  sublime  philosophy 
of  Christ,  which  was  to  him  the  one  absolute  truth.  It 
was  not  so  much  his  eloquence  as  his  moral  influence 
which  led  them  to  renounce  at  once,  country,  family, 
and  the  legal  studies  they  had  already  commenced, 
and  which  opened  to  them  honourable  prospects  in  life. 
They  could  not  but  yield  to  that  strange  fascination 
which  Origen  exercised  upon  all  who  approached  him, 
to  that  indescribable  constraining  power  which  ema- 
nated from  the  Divine  within  him.*  "Love  for  him," 
says  Gregory,  "was  like  an  arrow  which  fixed  itself  deep 
in  the  heart,  and  could  not  be  drawn  out,  or  like  a 
spark  setting  the  soul  on  fire."t  In  listening  to  him, 
philosophy,  and  especially  he  who  taught  it,  seemed  to 
be  preferred  above  all  beside,  and  this  because  of  the 
marvellous  agreement  between  his  doctrine  and  his 
life.  He  did  not  teach  morals  by  words  alone,  but  by 
deeds.  He  stimulated  to  good  even  more  by  that 
which  he  wrought  than  by  that  which  he  taught. J 
"  We," says  Gregory,  "were  neither  just,  nor  temperate, 
nor  endowed  with  any  virtue ;  but  this  noble  man, 
whose  soul  was  full  of  the  love  of  all  goodness,  made 
us  love  it  with  a  great  love.  He  constrained  us  to  ad- 
mire the  beauty  of  righteousness  in  all  its  purity. "§ 
Such  teaching  was  admirably  adapted  to  enrich  and 
render  fruitful  the  souls  and  minds  of  those  by  whom 
it  was  received.     They   gathered    more   from    it   than 

*  Ovk  old'  o-iriog  aiiv  tivi  9tia  dovafiti.  (Origen,  "  Opera,"  IV. 
Append.,  64.) 

t  <&i\iag  i'iiaTv  Ktvrpov  tvifftctjipev.       (Ibid.)      4  Ibid.,  68. 

§  Ti}g  diKciioovi'tig,  tjq  to  xP^'ai0V  ovruiQ  tdei%ev  i)uTy  Trpv<ruj7rov. 
(Ibid.,  71.)  '      • 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    337 

mere  varied  knowledge;  it  left  deep  in  their  hearts 
living  seeds,  which  would  be  developed  in  places 
remote  from  the  influence  of  the  master.*  The 
thought  of  this  result  was  Gregory's  consolation 
in  parting  from  Origen  after  the  most  pathetic  of 
farewells. 

The  great  qualities  of  the  catechist  were  to  be 
equally  conspicuous  in  the  preacher.  Origen,  from 
the  time  when  he  was  raised  to  the  office  ot  elder  at 
Caesarea,  preached  regularly  in  that  city.  Numerous 
homilies  delivered  by  him  have  been  preserved.  He 
preached  from  the  Gospel  of  the  day,  or  upon  the 
portion  of  Scripture  which  had  been  read  before  the 
assembly.  Following  the  ancient  usage  of  the  Church, 
the  Scriptures  thus  publicly  read  were  consecutive,  so 
that  each  book  was  perused  entire.  Origen  never  took 
a  single  passage  for  a  text ;  he  expounded  an  entire 
period.  He  commenced  with  the  explanation  of  the 
passage,  and  then  proceeded  to  its  application.  His 
great  aim  was  spiritual  edification,  t  His  tone  was 
usually  calm,  his  language  neither  brilliant  nor  pas- 
sionate ;  he  had  not  the  forcible  eloquence  of  Tertullian, 
but  on  the  other  hand  he  used  no  false  arts  of  rhetoric. 
When  the  subject  demands  it,  he  is  capable  of  much 
elevation,  and  his  style  is  rich  and  full.  His  imagina- 
tion diffuses  a  soft  and  equal  light  over  his  discourses, 
rather  than  those  brilliant  gleams  which  produce  more 
immediate  but  less  lasting  effect.  He  exhibits  no  trace 
of  that  false  priestly  assumption,  which  seeks  to  im- 
pose the  truths  it  feels  itself  incapable  of  communicating 
by  persuasion.      He  plainly  avows  his  own  weakness, 

*  " Ecttiv  >//iij'  fr-rrfpfiara.      (Origen.  "Opera,"  IV..  Append.,  77.) 
t  "  Ouae  ad  aedificationem  pertinent  proferentem."     {"  la  Levit.," 
Horn.  I.) 


338  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

and,  as  we  have  seen,  humbly  entreats  the  prayers  of 
his  hearers.  Such  simple,  earnest  words,  spoken  with 
transparent  sincerity,  are  sure  to  find  their  way  to  the 
heart,  while  the  same  truths,  arrayed  in  a  vain  pomp 
of  verbiage,  or  upheld  by  an  unjust  assumption  of 
authority,  die  away  without  awaking  any  echo  in  the 
soul.  As  we  read  the  homilies  of  Origen,  we  feel  our- 
selves constantly  brought  into  contact  with  a  rare 
Christian,  one  who  knows  that  true  greatness  consists 
in  self-forgetfulness. 

The  time  was  at  hand  when  Origen  was  to  be  with- 
drawn from  a  sphere  of  activity  so  rich  and  fruitful. 
He  was  ready  to  endure  the  trial  of  suffering  as  nobly 
as  he  had  already  endured  the  yet  more  testing  or- 
deal of  outward  tranquillity.  A  short  time  before 
the  peace  of  the  Church  was  broken,  he  wrote  the 
following  words,  which  show  his  disposition  of  mind  : 
"  For  ourselves,  we  are  ready  to  undergo  persecu- 
tion whenever  God  shall  permit  the  adversary  to  stir 
it  up  against  us.  So  long  as  God  allows  us  to 
enjoy  exemption  from  such  trial,  and  to  lead  a  life 
of  tranquillity,  strange  in  the  midst  of  a  world  which 
hates  us,*  we  will  commit  ourselves  to  Him  who 
said,  '  Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world.' 
But  if  it  is  His  will  that  we  should  have  to  fight 
and  to  suffer  for  the  cause  of  piety,  we  will  meet 
all  the  assaults  of  the  enemy  with  these  wrords :  '  I 
can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who  strengtheneth 
me.'"t 

It  was  not  long  before  the  possibility  thus  anticipated 
became  a  reality.  The  terrible  persecution  which 
stained  the  reign  of  Decius,  was,  as  we  know,  aggra- 

*  Kal  iv  fxiaovvn  iiuag  tiS  Koauoj  Tcapaou^ioc  Ltpt'ivnv  dyoutv.  ("  Contra 
Celsum/'VIII.  7o.)  f  Ibid. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    339 

vated  by  the  tortures  which  the  emperor  commanded 
as  a  means  of  compelling  the  Christians  to  apostatise. 
Origen  retired  to  Tyre  as  soon  as  the  decree  was  pro- 
mulgated throughout  the  cities  and  villages.  This  was 
a  last  concession  to  Christian  prudence,  for  he  was  too 
well  known  at  Caesarea  not  to  be  at  once  marked  out  as 
the  first  victim  for  the,  new  sacrifice.  It  was  impossible 
that  he  should  escape  a  persecution  so  general  and  so 
violent.  The  desire  of  his  youth  was  at  length  granted; 
it  was  given  him  to  suffer  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  with- 
out the  possibility  of  his  incurring  the  charge  of  temerity. 
He  had  scrupulously  conformed  to  the  will  of  the 
Master,  who  counselled  flight  where  it  was  possible. 
He  now  welcomed  with  pure  and  holy  joy  the  ignominies 
and  tortures  laid  upon  him  for  his  faith.  The  perse- 
cutors spent  all  their  fury  upon  the  venerable  man, 
whose  body  was  worn  and  wasted  by  asceticism,  and 
by  the  vast  and  incessant  labours  of  his  life.*  He  was 
not  only  loaded  with  chains,  but  exposed  to  divers 
tortures.  He  was  cast  into  the  deepest  dungeon,  an 
iron  collar  was  hung  around  his  neck,  and  his  feet  were 
crushed  for  four  days  in  the  stocks. t  He  was  con- 
stantly reminded  of  the  fiery  death  awaiting  him,  but 
he  stood  firm  under  all  agonies  and  threats.  His 
persecutors,  however,  by  a  last  refinement  of  cruelty, 
did  not  send  him  to  the  stake,  imagining  that  they 
could  thus  deprive  him  of  the  crown  of  martyrdom. X 
Spent  as  he  was  by  so  much  suffering,  Origen  had  still 
strength  to  address  words  of  consolation  to  his  brethren. § 
His  last  thought  was  for  them,  and  he  died  as  he  had 

*  Tow  -oi'))i)n?  taif-iovng  t^af.d\\ojg  ti{)  dvdn'i  TrawjTpariq.  7rapaTa^a/j.tvov. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxxix.)  t  Ibid. 

X  Miyoa/iwc  avrov  dvekitv  7rarri  oQkvu  cikootov  quXoviimoq  ivgtuvtoq. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xl.)  §  Ibid. 


340  'The  early  years  of  Christianity. 

lived,  as  ardent  for  the  cross  of  Christ  under  his  crown 
of  hoary  hairs,  as  he  had  been  in  his  early  youth.  His 
tomb  was  long  preserved  at  Tyre.  His  name  was 
graven  on  a  monument  more  durable  than  marble — 
in  the  hearts  of  his  disciples ;  and  in  spite  of  the 
controversies  to  which  his  system  was  to  give  occasion, 
and  the  passionate  party  spirit  it  was  to  excite,  he  has 
left  the  memory  of  one  of  the  greatest  theologians  and 
greatest  saints  the  Church  has  ever  possessed.  One 
of  his  own  words  strikes  the  key-note  of  his  life. 
"Love,"  he  says  again  and  again,  "is  an  agony,  a 
passion:  Caritas  est  passio."*  To  love  the  truth  so  as 
to  suffer  for  it  in  the  world  and  in  the  Church ;  to  love 
mankind  with  a  tender  sympathy ;  to  extend  the  arms 
of  compassion  ever  more  widely,  so  as  to  overpass  all 
barriers  of  dogmatic  difference,  under  the  far-reaching 
impulse  of  this  pitying  love ;  to  realise  that  the  essence 
of  love  is  sacrifice,  and  to  make  self  the  unreserved 
and  willing  victim, — such  was  the  creed,  such  was  the 
life  of  Origen. 


§111.  The  Fathers  of  the  Eastern  Church,  from  Origen 
to  Constantine. 

The  influence  of  the  illustrious  Alexandrine  had 
gone  on  constantly  extending  and  consolidating,  in 
spite  of  the  condemnation  ot  his  bishop — an  indubitable 
evidence  that  he  had  not,  with  all  his  boldness,  de- 
parted from  what  may  be  called  the  dogmatic  standard 
of  his  age.  He  lost  his  cause  only  before  a  tribunal 
not  competent  to  try  it.  The  more  rigid  orthodoxy 
of  a  later  date  applied  to  him  its  own  measure,  and 
*  "In  Ezechiel,"  Horn.  VI.  "Opera,"  III.  379. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    34I 

passed  on  him  one  of  those  retro-active  judgments 
which  are  the  gross  injustices  of  history.  The  number 
and  quality  of  his  disciples  are  alone  enough  to  estab- 
lish his  justification.  The  greater  part  of  them  were 
placed  at  the  head  of  important  Churches,  which 
abundantly  proves  that  they  were  not  regarded  as 
schismatics  or  heretics.  The  esteem  in  which  they 
were  held  reflected  honour  upon  their  master,  and 
vindicated  him  from  the  charges  of  Demetrius.  The 
Eastern  Church  of  the  third  century  cancelled,  in 
fact,  the  sentence  passed  upon  Origen  under  the 
influence  of  the  hierarchical  party.  At  Alexandria 
itself,  his  disciples  maintained  the  pre-eminence,  and 
at  the  death  of  Demetrius,  Heraclas,  who  had  been 
the  most  intimate  friend  and  trusted  disciple  of  Origen, 
was  raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity  by  the  free  choice 
of  the  elders.  This  election  explains  why  Demetrius 
had  taken  care  to  exclude  his  clergy  from  the  synod, 
from  which  he  meant  to  extort  the  condemnation  of  the 
illustrious  catechist.  The  majority  in  this  leading 
council  of  the  Church  was  on  the  side  of  Origen,  and 
though  it  was  for  a  moment  taken  by  surprise,  and  held 
in  subjection  by  the  authority  of  the  bishop,  it  rapidly 
returned  to  its  true  opinions.  Heraclas,  a  pagan  by 
birth,  had  been  attached  to  Origen  from  his  earliest 
years.  He  was  the  brother  of  that  Plutarch  who 
nearly  involved  his  master  in  his  own  martyrdom. 
We  know  that  the  furious  populace  attributed  the  death 
of  Plutarch  to  the  master  who  had  taught  him  such 
unshaken  devotedness  and  heroic  fidelity.  Hc/aclas 
and  Plutarch  were  among  those  pagans  who,  by  their 
earnest  questions  and  their  thirst  after  the  highest 
truth,  had  induced  the  young  and  brilliant  professor 
of  grammar  to  devote  to   sacred  literature  a  course  of 


342  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

instruction  designed  at  first  to  be  secular.  Heraclas, 
after  attending"  for  some  time  the  school  of  Ammonius 
Saccas,  soon  became  the  colleague  of  Origen,  who 
confided  to  him  the  preparatory  class  of  his  disciples, 
and  thus  gave  the  strongest  pledge  of  his  confidence 
in  him.  The  assurance  that  he  was  leaving  his 
school  in  such  hands,  on  his  departure  for  Palestine, 
softened  the  bitterness  of  his  exile,  and  not  long  after, 
he  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  his  teaching  vindi- 
cated in  the  most  marked  manner,  in  the  very  city 
where  he  had  been  condemned.  The  elevation  to  the 
bishopric  of  his  most  familiar  disciple,  his  second  self, 
was  a  sufficient  reply  to  all  the  accusations  against 
him.  We  have  few  details  of  the  bishopric  of  Heraclas. 
We  know  only  that  he  always  maintained  the  same 
spirit  of  free  inquiry,  and  cherished  the  same  desire  to 
"be  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of  his 
opponents,  which  had  led  him  to  attend  the  school 
of  the  pagan  philosopher,  Ammonius  Saccas.  In  fact, 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria  informs  us  that  Heraclas 
never  received  a  heretic  into  the  Church,  without 
previously  requiring  of  him  a  full  statement  of  his 
former  errors.* 

Heraclas  died  in  the  year  249,  and  was  succeeded 
by  another  disciple  of  Origen,  who  had  taken  his  place 
in  the  direction  of  the  School  of  the  Catechists — ■ 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  surnamed,  by  the  just  admira- 
tion of  his  contemporaries,  the  Great.  He  united 
the  twofold  greatness  of  a  noble  intellect  and  a  pious 
heart ;  he  was  equally  distinguished  as  a  bishop  and 
as  a  theologian.  Called  to  the  leadership  of  the 
Church  in  times  of  peril  and  suffering,  he  showed 
himself  an  able  and  courageous  pilot.  Moderate  in 
*  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VII.  vii. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    343 

discipline,  but  of  tried  fidelity  to  his  cause,  he  combined 
qualities  too  often  divided,  and  had  the  rare  merit  of 
representing  Christian  liberty  in  a  position  where  it 
has  been  deemed  necessary  to  restrain  or  stifle  it.* 
Born  of  a  rich  pagan  family,  he  was  early  won  to  the 
cause  of  Christianity.  He  reached  it  by  the  path  of 
free  investigation, t  and  as  soon  as  he  was  converted 
he  became  an  assiduous  disciple  of  Origen. J  From 
him  he  received  the  general  bent  of  his  thoughts, 
without  adopting  all  the  views  of  the  bold  theologian. 
It  is  certain  that  he  learnt  in  the  school  of  Origen  that 
moderation  and  breadth  of  spirit,  which  characterised 
him  in  the  discussions  of  the  age,  and  that  union  of 
gentleness  and  firmness  which  he  always  displayed. 
He  had  himself  to  encounter  the  opposition  of  the 
bigoted  party,  which  chose  to  add  ignorance  to  the  list 
of  Christian  virtues  given  by  St.  Paul.  Men'of  narrow 
and  timid  souls  reproached  him  with  following  the 
example  of  Origen,  and  occupying  himself  too  much 
with  false  doctrines.  They  would  have  preferred  that 
heresy  should  be  condemned  without  appeal  and  with- 
out evidence,  and  they  would  willingly  have  included 
within  the  vague  circle  of  that  term,  every  notion  dis- 
pleasing to  themselves.  Dionysius  believed  in  the 
efficacy  of  free  discussion  ;  instead,  therefore,  of  yielding 
to  so  convenient  a  prejudice,  he  continued  to  make  a 
study  of  the  errors  he  desired  to  confute,  and  refused 
to  avail  himself  of  the  facile  method  of  condemning 
that    of   which    he    knew    nothing.      An    elder  ot    the 

*  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"VI.  VII.,  passim  ;  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  Ixix  ;  Lenain  de  Tillemont,  "  Memoires,"  IV.  242. 

t  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  remarkable  vision  he  relates. 
(Eusebius,  "  H.  E./'  VII.  vii.i 

I  "  Origenis  valde  insignis  auditor."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  Ixix.) 


344  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Church  of  Alexandria  had  reproached  him  with  reading 
the  works  of  the  heretics,  under  the  pretext  that  they 
left  a  stain  upon  the  mind.  Musing,  no  doubt,  over 
this  conversation,  Dionysius  had  a  vision  or  a  dream, 
in  which  he  heard  a  voice  saying  to  him,  "  Read 
all  that  comes  in  thy  way,  for  thou  art  able  to 
examine  and  judge  of  all :  thus  wast  thou  thyself  led 
to  Christ."* 

In  the  school  of  Origen,  Dionysius  also  derived  that 
spirit  of  large  toleration,  which  he  consistently  mani- 
fested through  all  the  crises  of  his  day.  Mixed  up  in 
every  discussion  of  dogma  or  Church  government, 
he  uniformly  maintained  an  elevated  and  conciliatory 
tone,  while  he  almost  invariably  espoused  the  right 
cause,  and  defended  it  with  worthy  weapons.  Dio- 
nysius never  acts  as  an  official  personage,  covering  his 
theology  with  the  episcopal  mantle,  and  imposing  his 
own  views  on  others  by  virtue  of  his  authority  as  a  high 
dignitary  of  the  Church.  He  desires  no  advantage 
over  his  opponents  but  that  of  the  goodness  of  his 
cause,  and  uses  no  weapons  but  free  discussion  and 
moral  influence.  "  I  have  given  my  opinion,"  he  says, 
at  the  close  of  his  letter  to  Basilides,  "  not  as  doctor, 
but  in  all  simplicity,  as  becomes  us  in  free  discussion. t 
Examine  it,  O  my  very  wise  son,  and  write  me,  if  thou 
hast  found  any  views  more  just  and  better  established 
than  mine,  or  if  thou  hast  come  over  to  my  opinion."! 
Faithful  to  these  principles,  Dionysius  always  pre- 
ferred  conferences   for   open    discussion,  to    synods  of 

*  llamv   lvrvyxave   °^£  "v  tlG  Xf'l°aC  Xafioig.      (Eusebius,    "  H.   E.," 

VII.  viL) 

f  '  Eyw  £k  ovx  wc  SiSctGKCtXog,  a XX.'  wg  jxitci  Tratn]Q  cltiX6ti)toc  TrpotriJKOP 
t'lixag  fiWijXoig  SiaXsyfaQai.      (Routh,  "  Rcliq.  Sacras,"  III.  232.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    345 

bishops,  where  sentence  is  pronounced  by  a  majority 
made  sure  beforehand.  He  witnessed  the  spread  in  his 
own  Church  and  in  the  adjacent  districts,  of  an  error 
which  he  regarded  as  very  dangerous,  because  it 
materialised  the  hopes  of  the  Christians,  and  imparted 
to  them  a  Judaic  colouring;  but  he  never  fulminated 
anathemas  against  those  who  held  these  millenarian 
notions ;  instead  of  this,  he  called  forth  a  fraternal 
discussion,  in  which  he  himself  displayed  a  truly  noble 
spirit  of  forbearance  and  tolerance.  This  honourable 
conference  lasted  during  three  entire  days,  from 
morning  to  night.  "  I  much  admired,"  says  Dionysius, 
"the  firmness,  the  love  of  truth,  straightforwardness, 
and  intelligence  of  our  brethren.  Everything  was 
done  with  moderation  and  order ;  questions  were,  put, 
replies  given,  resolutions  taken.  We  endeavoured 
carefully  not  to  show  a  bigoted  attachment  to  our 
preconceived  opinions,  even  though  we  might  believe 
them  to  be  well  founded.  In  the  same  manner,  we 
made  no  attempt  to  elude  objections.  We  endeavoured, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  deal  with  the  principles  involved 
in  the  discussion,  and  to  establish  them  thoroughly ; 
and  we  were  not  ashamed  to  retract  what  we  had  said, 
and  to  give  assent  to  the  opinion  of  our  opponents, 
whenever  we  found  in  their  arguments  the  force  of 
truth.  On  the  contrary,  our  hearts  were  open  before 
God,  and  we  accepted  frankly  and  fairly  all  that  was 
established  upon  sufficient  evidence,  and  upon  the 
teaching  of  Holy  Scripture."  * 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  more  explicit  recog- 
nition to  the  claims  of  free  inquiry,  or  more  fully  to 
abandon  any  ground   of  fictitious  authority,  supported 

*    M//rc    (I    \6yoc     aipu     fUTaTreiQurQat      <ai    avvofioXoytlv    alSovfifvot. 

(Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  VII.  xxiv.) 

'23 


346  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

not  by  the  worth  of  the  arguments,  but  by  the  quality  or 
position  of  the  arguer.  Acting  steadily  on  these  great 
principles,  Dionysius  always  showed  the  greatest  respect 
for  his  adversaries ;  he  frankly  accepted  the  diversity 
of  standpoints,  and  never  laid  those  who  differed  from 
him  under  the  ban  of  the  Church.  He  would  not  have 
used  against  Marcion  the  invectives  heaped  upon  him 
by  Tertullian  ;  he  would  have  combated  his  views  with 
equal  decision,  but  he  would  have  respected  his  person. 
Thus  he  testifies  the  greatest  affection  and  most  sincere 
admiration  for  Nepos,  the  apostle  of  the  millenarians 
at  Alexandria.  "I  esteem  him,"  he  says;  "I  have  a 
tender  love  for  him  ; "  and  he  delights  to  dwell  on  all 
the  services  rendered  by  him  to  the  Church.  Again  he 
adds  :•  "  I  revere  him  if  on  this  account  alone,  that  he 
is  dead."  But  truth  has  its  just  claims ;  it  demands 
to  be  defended.  If  Nepos  were  still  living,  Dionysius 
would  propose  a  conference  writh  him ;  but  as  his 
writings  continue  to  circulate  though  he  is  dead,  it  is 
necessary  to  meet  them  with  a  serious  refutation.* 
It  is  easy  to  see  in  what  a  conciliatory  and  respectful 
spirit  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria  undertakes  this  task ; 
it  goes  against  his  nature  to  fight  with  an  adversary 
who  can  make  no  rejoinder.  He  does  not  hesitate  to 
give  the  name  of  brother  to  Novatus,  the  schismatic, 
in  the  justly  severe  letter  which  he  writes  to  him. 
Dionysius  remained  faithful  to  the  principles  of  his 
whole  life  in  resisting  steadfastly  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
when  the  latter  wished  to  pronounce  a  condemnation 
on  all  the  bishops  of  the  East  who  refused  to  recognise 
the  value  of  the  baptism  of  heretics.  His  opposition 
has  the  more  weight,  because  on  the  subject  itself  in 
dispute,  he  shared  the  opinion  of  Sixtus ;  but  he  could 
'-:=  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xxiv. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    347 

not  tolerate  such  an  abuse  of  power,  and  appealed  to 
the  ancient  customs  of  the  Church  in  opposition  to  the 
assumptions  of  the' hierarchy.* 

Dionysius  of  Alexandria  took  an  active  part  in  all 
the  great  ecclesiastical  controversies  of  the  day.  In 
reference  to  the  schism  of  Novatus,  he  wrote  several 
letters  to  the  schismatic  himself,  to  Fabius,  Bishop  of 
Egypt,  and  to  the  Egyptian  Christians.  His  views 
on  Penitence,  expressed  by  himself  in  a  treatise,  are 
equally  removed  from  the  extremes  of  indulgence  or 
of  severity.  When  a  discussion  arose  as  to  the  virtue 
of  the  baptism  of  heretics,  he  wrote  to  Stephen  and  to 
Sixtus  of  Rome,  and  also  to  several  members  of  the 
clergy  of  that  Church. t  He  was  the  author  of  a  book 
on  the  millenarian  tenets,  which  was  in  fact  an 
epitome  of  his  conference  with  Nepos  on  the  subject.  X 
Eusebius  gives  us  some  important  extracts  from  this 
work.  It  is  clear  that  he  rejected  the  authenticity  of 
the  Revelation,  on  internal  evidences  which  we  need 
not  now  discuss,  but  which  indicate  that  he  possessed 
much  acuteness  as  a  critic,  combined  with  a  dangerous 
facility  of  being  led  by  his  earnestness  in  opposing 
error,  to  take  exaggerated  views  in  a  contrary  direction. 
In  the  quarrel  stirred  up  by  Sabellius,  he  showed  him- 
self too  faithful  to  the  views  of  Origen,  not  to  cause 
uneasiness  to  the  cloudy  orthodoxy  of  Dionysius, 
Bishop  of  Rome,  who  accused  him  of  violating  the 
unity  of  the  Divine  personality.  In  order  to  justify 
himself,  he  wrote  a  treatise,  unhappily  now  lost,  which 
might  have  shown  us  how  vague  and  loosely  defined 
was  the  dogmatic  theology  of  that  period.  §  Besides 
some  letters  on  the  subject   of  the  Easter  celebration, 

*  Eusebius.  "  H.  E.,M  VII.  v.  +  Ibid.,  VI.  xliv.-xlvi. 

+  Ibid.,  VII.  ix.  §  Ibid.,  VII.  xxvi. 


348  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Dionysius  is  also  known  as  the  writer  of  some  letters 
of  self-justification,  addressed  to  one  Germanus,  who 
accused  him  of  having  failed  in  firmness  during  the 
persecution.  The  fragments  which  Eusebius  has 
handed  down  to  us  of  these  letters  are  of  great  in- 
terest, for  they  show  that  Dionysius  was  not  wanting 
either  in  courage  or  wisdom,  and  give  us  an  in- 
sight into  the  stormy  and  trying  times  in  which  he 
lived.  He  had,  in  fact,  hardly  been  raised  to  the 
episcopate  when  the  decree  of  Decius  was  promul- 
gated through  all  the  cities.  The  proconsul  gave 
positive  commands  that  Dionysius  should  be  seized, 
and  the  soldiers  sent  in  pursuit  of  him,  sought  him 
everywhere  except  in  his  own  house,  where  during 
four  days  he  calmly  awaited  them.*  At  the  end  of 
that  time,  having  left  his  home,  he  was  taken,  and 
again  rescued  from  the  hands  of  his  captors  by  some 
Christians,  who,  being  gathered  for  a  wedding,  and 
hearing  of  the  seizure  of  their  bishop,  hastened  at 
once  to  his  deliverance.  In  vain  Dionysius  implored 
his  liberators  to  allow  him  to  go  forth  to  martyr- 
dom, that  he  might  receive  the  crown  for  which  he 
longed,  but  had  not  dared  presumptuously  to  reach 
forth  his  hand ;  t  they  constrained  him  to  accept 
safety.  He  lived  until  the  death  of  Decius  in  the 
deserts  of  Libya,  from  whence  he  secretly  governed 
his  Church.  The  reign  of  Gallienus  gave  a  brief 
respite  to  the  Christians.  The  persecution  having 
recommenced  under  Valerian,  Dionysius  was  dragged 
from  his  sick  bed,  and  brought  before  the  tribunal 
of  the   proconsul   Emilianus.     The   proconsul   desired 

*  MtTci  ti)v  TETcipTijv  i/fdpav.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xl.) 
+  ' AvsKpayov     Seo/xevog    avriov    icai    iKtrtvojv    a.7rikvat    nai    t)[iag   e$v. 
(Ibid.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   349 

him  to  merit  by  apostasy  the  grace  of  the  emperor. 
The  bishop,  as  vigorous  in  soul  as  he  was  feeble  in 
body,  replied  with  dignified  firmness,  and  declared  that 
he  owned  but  one  God,  the  Creator  and  Saviour  of  all 
men,  who  admitted  none  to  share  His  honours.*  The 
proconsul  sent  him  back  with  the  strange  reproach 
of  acting  ungratefully  towards  the  emperor.  The 
Christian  assemblies  were  forbidden,  and  the  bishop 
was  exiled.  But  he  carried  with  him  the  torch  of  the 
Gospel,  and  every  new  place  of  banishment  was  like  a 
new  diocese  presented  to  him  by  his  adversaries.  He 
returned  to  Alexandria  in  the  year  260,  when  Gallienus 
was  emperor.  He  found  the  city  a  prey  to  civil  war, 
which  was  quickly  followed  by  pestilence.  The  heart  of 
the  pastor  was  torn  by  this  succession  of  woes,  and  he 
yearned  to  embrace  in  his  fatherly  affection  all  the 
Christians  of  the  city.t  The  Christians,  during  the 
epidemic,  distinguished  themselves  by  their  noble 
charity,  rendering  their  persecutors  good  for  evil  ; 
forgetting  the  wrongs  they  had  suffered,  braving  all 
perils  ;  calm  and  fearless  in  the  universal  terror,  paying 
with  their  lives  the  price  of  their  generous  tendance 
of  the  sick,  and  teaching  the  pagan  world  what 
Christian  vengeance  is.  Dionysius  encouraged  and 
directed  this  sublime  self-devotion,  alike  by  his  word 
and  his  example.  The  great  labours  and  sufferings 
which  he  underwent  broke  the  strength  of  the  aged 
bishop ;  he  was  unable  to  repair  to  Antioch,  where  a 
council  was  convened  to  discuss  the  errors  circulated 
by  Paul  of  Samosata,  against  whom  Dionysius  had 
already  given  his  decision  in  a  letter.  He  died  shortly 
after,  having  received  from  the  council,  in  common  with 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  the  honour  of  a  special  commu- 
*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xi.  t  Ibid.,  VII.  xxi. 


350  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

nication  of  the  resolutions  taken  against  the  heretics. 
No  higher  tribute  can  be  paid  to  his  memory,  than  to 
say  he  was  a  worthy  disciple  of  Origen,  and  that  in  the 
high  position  of  bishop  of  one  of  the  principal  sees, 
he  displayed  all  the  heroic  piety  and  large  tolerance 
instilled  by  his  master,  with  more  of  wisdom,  both  in 
theory  and  practice.  He  never  forgot  his  obligations 
to  Origen,  and  in  the  presence  either  of  friends  or  foes, 
was  always  ready  to  express  his  high  and  grateful 
admiration  of  his  old  master.* 

Dionysius  had  found  an  invaluable  helper  in  all 
times  of  difficulty  in  a  deacon  of  his  Church,  named 
Eusebius,  who  had  been  summoned  with  him  before 
the  proconsul.  Eusebius  distinguished  himself  by  his 
active  and  fearless  charity  during  the  epidemic  which 
raged  at  Alexandria,  and  he  rendered  signal  service  to 
the  Christians  of  the  city  during  the  civil  war.  With- 
drawing into  one  of  the  quarters  which  remained 
faithful  to  Rome,  he  obtained,  by  his  own  credit  and 
that  of  his  friend  Anatolius, — well  known  ,  among  the 
pagans  for  his  vast  philosophical  learning, — a  capitula- 
tion, giving  permission  to  the  widows,  the  children,  and 
the  sick,  to  quit  the  besieged  part  of  the  city.  Many 
Christians  availed  themselves  of  this  permission  to 
rejoin  Eusebius.  He  received  them,  and  treated  them 
like  a  father.  He  sat  in  the  Council  of  Antioch  as  the 
representative  of  Dionysius,  and  was  subsequently 
raised  to  the  episcopal  see  of  Laodicea,  in  which  he 
was  soon  followed  by  his  friend  Anatolius.  The 
writings  of  these  two  bishops  have  been  totally  lost. 
Anatolius  wrote  a  treatise  upon  Easter ;  he  possessed 
great   advantage    in    the    treatment   of  chronological 

*  Mtrtt  Oa.va.Tov  iixivou  vt  l.Traivwv  -bv  'Qpiytvijv  ayu.  (Photius, 
u  Codex,"  ccxxxii.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        351 

questions,  from  his  extensive  knowledge  of  mathe- 
matics.* 

The  halcyon-days  of  the  school  of  Alexandria  were 
now  over.  Dionysius  was  the  last  of  its  great  masters. 
Two  eminent  men,  of  whose  writings  we  have  but 
detached  fragments,  still  shed  some  lustre  over  it. 
These  were  Theognostus  and  Pierius,  who  both  filled 
the  office  of  catechist.  The  former  received  the 
highest  testimony  from  Athanasius,  who  spoke  of  him 
as  a  noble  and  eloquent  man,  devoted  to  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge. t  Photius,  who  is  severe  on  his  doc- 
trine, praises  his  eloquence,  which  he  represents  as 
truly  Attic,  and  combining  precision  and  power  with 
habitual  elevation. %  He  appears  to  have  made  full 
use  of  the  legitimate  liberty  of  Christian  thought  ; 
he  preserved  the  tradition  of  Origen  up  to  the  very 
eve  of  the  great  assemblies  which  were  so  soon  to 
enchain  the  freedom  of  conviction  and  belief.  Theog- 
nostus wrote  some  "  Hypotyposes,"  after  the  manner 
of  Clement. 

Pierius,  a  priest  or  elder  of  the  Church  of  Alexan- 
dria, was  his  immediate  successor.  He  lived  until 
the  commencement  of  the  following  century,  and  by 
his  extensive  learning,  his  eloquence  and  asceticism, 
merited  the  appellation  of  a  second  Origen.  §  He  exhi- 
bited the  same  contrast  between  wealth  of  thought  and 
poverty  of  outward  circumstances, — a  poverty  which 
he  voluntarily  accepted,  and  even  sought,  for  its  own 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xxxii. 

f  'Avrip  \6yiog.     (Photius,  "  Codex,"  cvi.) 

%  KaWiXiZictojg  Iv'Xttikijj.  (Ibid.,  cclxxx.)  See  the  fragments 
of  Theognostus  in  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacrae/'  III.  417-419. 

§  "  Florentissime  docuit  populum"  et  in  tantam  sermonis  di- 
versorumque  tractatuum  qui  usque  hodie  extant  venit  clegantiam, 
ut  Origenes  junior  vocaretur."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.," 
lxxvi.) 


352  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

sake.  *  He  left  a  Commentary  on  the  Prophet  Hosea. 
Part  of  his  life  was  passed  at  Rome.  Photius  asserts 
that  he  died  a  martyr  at  Alexandria,  where  a  Church 
is  supposed  to  have  borne  his  name  and  that  of  his 
brother  Isidore.  But  the  silence  of  Eusebius  and 
Jerome  invalidates  this  testimony. t  Photius  is  more 
worthy  of  belief  when  he  extols  the  great  talents 
of  Pierius,  his  learning,  his  gentle  and  persuasive 
eloquence. X  It  is  clear  that  high  literary  culture  was 
ever  much  sought  after  at  Alexandria  ;  with  it  was 
often  associated  a  fervent  piety  and  a  very  positive  faith 
on  all  essential  points,  but  also  much  indefiniteness  of 
dogmatic  teaching.  Photius  reproaches  Pierius  with 
the  imperfection  of  his  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  The 
see  of  Alexandria  was  at  this  time  occupied  by  Theonas. 
This  bishop  has  left  no  trace  of  himself  in  writing, 
except  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Christians  who  held 
any.  office  in  the  court  of  the  emperors.  This  is  a 
valuable  document,  for  the  evidence  it  gives  on  the 
early  relations  established  between  the  adherents  of  the 
new  religion  and  the  temporal  powers.  Theonas  was 
succeeded  by  Peter  of  Alexandria,  who  was  chosen  by 
the  elders  on  account  of  his  ascetic  piety,  so  much  in 
harmony  with  the  temper  of  the  times.  He  perished 
in  the  persecution,  after  conducting  for  three  years  the 
affairs  of  this  important  Church.  § 

*  'O  fxkv  atcpuiQ  dicTrjfiovL  j3l.i^  Kai  [xa9t'i[.iaai  <pi\ocr6<poiQ  tckdoicifxaaro. 
Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xxxii.) 

■f-  It  is  certain  that  Pierius  survived  Dionysius  of  Alexandria. 
Ii  his  martyrdom  had  been  coincident  with  that  of  Isidore,  it 
would  have  taken  place  under  the  Emperor  Decius.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  a  martyr  01  the  same  name  was  put  to  death  at  this 
period  with  Isidore.  (See  the  discussion  of  this  point  in  Routh, 
"Reliq.  Sacrae,"  III.  436.) 

X"E<rri  Si  rf/v  <ppa<riv  ocHpi'ic  re  KaiXafnrpoQ,    (PhotlUS,  "  Codex,"  cxix.) 

§  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xxxii. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   353 

The  influence  of  Origen  was  as  strongly  felt  in  Asia 
Minor  as  at  Alexandria.  We  have  seen  Theophilact, 
Bishop  of  Caesarea,  testifying  for  him  the  most  faithful 
and  fearless  affection,  and  esteeming  it  an  honour  to 
make  Caesarea  a  second  Alexandria,  by  offering  an 
asylum  and  a  chair  to  the  great  exile.  We  have  also 
seen  Firmilianus,  Bishop  of  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia, 
receiving  Origen  under  his  roof  during  the  persecution 
under  Maximinus.  He  remained  always  faithful  in 
his  friendship  to  Origen,  from  whom  he  had  probably 
received  the  Gospel.  He  ever  cherished  the  spirit 
of  liberality  learnt  in  his  school,  for  he  joined  with 
Cyprian  in  resisting  the  pretensions  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  on  the  question  of  the  baptism  of  heretics.* 
The  majority  of  the  bishops  of  Palestine  and  the 
adjacent  countries  pursued  the  same  course.  We  have 
alluded  to  the  letter  of  Julius  Africanus  to  Origen  on 
the  subject  of  the  book  of  Susannah.  It  evinces  a  fine 
and  practical  power  of  criticism.  His  "Chronicle," 
in  which  he  fixes  the  chronology  of  the  sacred  history 
up  to  the  year  221  after  Christ,  and  his  letter  to 
Aristides,  in  which  he  endeavours  to  explain  the  differ- 
ence in  the  two  genealogies  of  the  Saviour  in  Matthew 
and  in  Luke,  mark  him  as  an  exegete  of  great  sagacity, 
who  devotes  himself  by  preference  to  the  conscientious 
study  of  the  texts,  and  thus  wisely  counteracts  the 
excesses  of  the  allegorical  school  of  interpretation. t 
He  was  probably  Bishop  of  Emmaus,  a  town  better 
known  under  the  name  of  Nicopolis.  The  only 
remarkable  incident  in  his  life  was  a  mission  with 
which  he  was  charged  to  Heliogabalus,  for  obtaining 
the   re-building  of  his   native    city.     Such   a  mark  of 

*  Cyprian.  "  Epist.,"  Ixxv. 

t  See  the  fragments  ot  his  works  in  Routh, "  Reliq.  Sacra"."  II.  224. 


354  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

confidence  on  the  part  of  his  fellow  citizens  proves  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held.*  St.  Jerome  mentions 
another  disciple  of  Origen,  whose  country  is  unknown  ; 
this  is  Trypho,  the  author  of  numerous  commentaries 
on  the  Old  Testament. t 

A  still  more  illustrious  name  is  that  of  Gregory 
Thaumaturgus,  whom  we  have  already  mentioned  in 
connection  with  his  touching  farewell  address  to  Origen, 
on  leaving  him  to  return  to  his  own  country. X  We 
have  seen  with  what  ardent  affection  he  clung  to  his 
revered  master,  how  joyously  he  embraced  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  abandoned  a  career  of  brilliant  promise 
that  he  might  the  better  serve  his  Lord,  and  devote 
himself  entirely  to  the  diffusion  of  his  new  faith.  On 
his  return  to  his  own  country  in  238,  he  lived  for  some 
time  in  seclusion.  A  sudden  call  drew  him  forth  from 
the  desert.  Phedimus,  Bishop  of  Amisus,  in  Pontus, 
recommended  him  to  the  suffrages  of  the  Church 
of  Neo-Caesarea,  a  rich  and  flourishing  city,  which, 
through  its  nearness  to  the  sea,  enjoyed  a  daily  growing 
commerce.  Legend,  making  false  use  of  that  which 
was  truly  grand  in  the  life  of  the  holy  bishop,  has 
encircled  him  with  an  imaginary  halo.  He  has  been 
accredited  with  the  wildest  miracles, §  transformed, 
indeed,  into  a  sort  of  Christian  wizard,  upheaving  with 
a  word  enormous  blocks  of  stone.  It  is  pretended  that 
the  Apostle  John   appeared  to  him  at  the   request  of 

*  "  Sub  imperatore  M.  Aurelio  Antonino  legationem  pro  instau- 
ratione  urbis  Emmaus  suscepit."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.," 
lxiii.)  f  Ibid.,  lvii. 

J  The  principal  document  in  the  life  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus 
is  the  discourse  dedicated  to  him  by  Gregory  of  Nyss.,  Vol.  III. 
of  his  works.    (See  Lenain  de  Tillemont,  "  Memoires,"  IV.  315-341.) 

§  "  Signa  et  miracula  quae  jam  episcopus  cum  multa  ecclesiarum 
gloria  perpetravit."     (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  Ixi.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.         355 

Mary,  the  mother  of  the  Lord,  to  reveal  to  him  what 
he  was  to  preach.  If  we  subtract,  however,  all 
spurious  miracles  from  his  story,  we  shall  still  find  in 
Gregory  a  man  of  ardent  piety,  working  the  true 
miracles  of  faith.  We  see  no  reason  to  question  the 
tradition  that  he  overcame  a  pagan  priest  by  the 
efficacy  of  his  prayers,  and  tore  him  away  from  his  idol 
worship;  but  we  reject  the  absurd  embellishments  with 
which  this  simple  fact  has  been  overlaid.  That  he 
brought  a  terrible  pestilence  on  the  city  by  his  prayers 
to  God  against  it,  that  he  similarly  obtained  from  God 
the  conversion  of  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Neo-Caesarea,  so  that  at  his  death  no  more  than 
seventeen  pagans  were  left  in  the  city, — all  this  is  but 
the  indirect  testimony  of  the  men  of  his  age  to  the 
diffusive  power  of  primitive  Christianity.  He  gave 
a  beautiful  example  of  Christian  discrimination,  when 
he  appointed,  as  bishop  of  the  town  of  Commonus, 
a  poor  shoemaker  named  Alexander,  despised  by  the 
world,  but  great  in  the  sight  of  God,  who  did  honour 
to  so  exalted  a  station  in  the  Church.  During  the 
persecution  under  Decius,  he  retired  into  the  desert. 
We  have  regulations  and  canons  addressed  by  him 
to  a  bishop  of  the  country,  reproving  the  unworthy 
conduct  of  some  pretended  Christians,  who  had  during 
one  of  the  invasions  of  the  barbarians,  so  common  at 
that  epoch,  fallen  into  grave  irregularities  of  conduct, 
and  even  committed  depredations.  We  trace  in  this 
letter  the  elevated  spirituality  of  a  disciple  of  Origen  ; 
he  declares,  in  effect,  to  the  Christian  virgins  who  had 
been  made  the.  subjects  of  the  vilest  outrages,  that  in 
the  sight  of  God  they  remained  pure.*  His  views 
on  the  person  of  Christ  resembled  those  of  Origen,  and 
*  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacrae,"  II.  257. 


356  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY, 

he  did  not  escape  the  charge  of  Sabellianism.  He  died 
in  the  year  270.  Melchius,  bishop  in  the  same  district, 
is  praised  by  Eusebius  for  his  learning  and  his  great 
eloquence.  One  is  ready  to  wonder  what  could  be  the 
advantage  of  placing  a  man  of  brilliant  parts  in  these 
remote  districts.* 

We  have  yet  other  names  of  some  note  to  mention 
in  connection  with  the  Eastern  Church  of  this  period. 
Germinus,  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  Antioch  in  the  time 
of  Origen,  has  left  in  history  the  trace  of  some  writings 
which  in  our  day  are  entirely  lost.t  Malchion,  a  priest 
of  the  same  Church,  had  a  public  disputation  with 
Sabellius,  and  was  charged  to  convey  to  Rome  and 
Alexandria  the  decisions  of  the  synod  of  Antioch 
against  this  heretic.^  Lucian,  also  a  priest  of  this 
city,  made  himself  known  by  his  commentaries,  by 
his  revision  of  the  text  of  the  Septuagint,  and  lastly, 
by  the  Apology,  already  quoted  by  us,  which  he  delivered 
in  the  presence  of  Dioclesian,  at  Nicomedia,  before 
his  martyrdom. §  Archelaus,  Bishop  of  Mesopotamia 
under  the  Emperor  Probus,  wrote  a  book  against  the 
Manicheans,  which  was  translated  from  Syriac  into 
Greek;  ||  and  lastly,  Phileas,  Bishop  of  Thmuis,  in 
Egypt,  wrote  an  eulogium  of  martyrdom,  and  presented 
a  noble  defence  to  his  judges,  before  being  sentenced 
to  be  beheaded  under  Dioclesian.^" 

Towards  the  close  of  the  second  century  there  was 
every  indication  of  an  approaching  revolution,  which 
would  exalt  the  hierarchy  and  magnify  external  authority 
in  the  Church.  The  moment  was  at  hand  when,  for  the 
second  time,  and  in  a  much  more  significant  manner, 

*  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VII.  xxxii. 

t  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxiv.  J   Ibid.,  Ixxi. 

§  Ibid.,  lxxvii.  ||  Ibid.,  lxxii.  If  Ibid.,  Ixxviii. 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        357 

liberty  of  Christian  thought  would  be  condemned  in 
the  person  of  Origen.  The  discussion  with  reference 
to  him,  after  being  for  many  years  silent,  was  renewed 
with  as  much  vigour  as  ever,  in  the  very  city  where 
he  had  confessed  his  faith  amid  the  horrors  of  a  cruel 
captivity,  and  where  his  ashes  reposed.  The  accusation 
of  heresy  was  revived  against  him  by  Methodius, 
Bishop  of  Tyre,  who  had  occupied  successively  the  sees 
of  Olympus  and  of  Patara  in  Syria.  Methodius  objected, 
with  justice,  in  the  name  of  a  wise  and  Christian  realism, 
to  the  ultra-idealism  of  Origen ;  he  repudiated  the 
doctrine  of  pre-existence,  and  insisted  on  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  which,  in  the  system  of  Origen, 
was  too  much  refined  away.  He  would  not  allow, 
further,  that  the  corporeal  element  was  to  be  regarded 
in  itself  as  the  enemy  or  the  gaoler  of  the  soul.  But 
he  unwittingly  and  involuntarily  acknowledged  the 
influence  of  his  great  adversary,  by  the  boldness  with 
which  he  gave  utterance  to  the  doctrine  of  free-will.* 
However  much  ground  there  might  be  for  some  of  his 
attacks,  he  seems  to  have  made  them  with  too  much 
asperity,  and  he  thus  promoted  an  unjust  reaction  of 
feeling  against  Origen,  which  applied  to  him  a  rule 
of  faith  more  rigid  than  that  of  his  own  day,  and 
through  him  aimed  a  blow  at  the  spirit  of  true  liberality 
in  the  Church,  no  less  than  at  religious  philosophy. 
Methodius  wrote  a  commentary  on  the' parable  of  the 
wise  and  foolish  virgins,  a  book  on  the  resurrection, 
another  on  the  creation,  and  a  reply  to  Porphyry.  He 
died  a  martyr's  death  in  the  persecution  under  Dioclesian. 
Origen  found  an  eloquent  defender  in  Pamphylus, 
Bishop  of  Caesarea,   a  man   equally  remarkable  for  his 

*  A  considerable  tragment  d   Methodius'  writings  is  found  in 
Photius,  "  Codex,"  cexxxiv.;  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxxiii. 


35§  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

severe  piety,  his  voluntary  poverty,  his  contempt  for 
worldly  honours,  and  his  zeal  for  Christian  knowledge.* 
He  copied  with  his  own  hand  the  greater  part  of  the 
manuscripts  of  the  great  Alexandrine,  for  the  library 
of  the  Church  over  which  he  had  shed  so  pure  a  lustre. 
St.  Jerome  tells  us  that  he  saw  the  copy  of  the  com- 
mentaries on  the  twelve  minor  prophets,  and  that  he 
regarded  it  with  lively  emotion,  for  it  seemed  to  him 
watered  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs. t  Pamphylus, 
when  thrown  into  prison,  consoled  himself  by  writing 
an  apology  for  Origen,  which  was  to  be  completed  by 
Eusebius.  The  first  book  of  this  apology  has  been 
preserved  to  us  in  the  Latin  translation  of  Rufinus,  but 
not  quite  in  its  original  form  and  spirit,  if  we  are  to  give 
credit  to  the  vehement  protestations  of  St.  Jerome.J 
This  fragment  proves  that  Origen  was  already  placed 
under  the  ban  of  the  Church,  that  his  name  alone  was 
a  bugbear  to  the  narrow  and  bigoted  party, §  and  that 
among  his  enemies  some  dwelt  exclusively  on  the 
erroneous  passages  in  his  works,  while  others  con- 
demned him  unread.  ||  Among  his  friends,  many  were 
too  prudent  to  avowtheir  true  sentiments,  and  unworthily 
abandoned  his  cause. If  Pamphylus,  who  was  ready,  as 
he  proved,  to  shed  his  blood  for  Jesus  Christ,**  was  not 

*  'Avr/p  Trapn  o\ov  rbv  fiiov  iraari  dia7rpt\}/ag  aptTij.  (Eusebius,  "  De 
Martyr.  Palest.,"  xi.) 

t  "  Mihi  videtur*sui  sanguinis  signasse  vestigiis."  (St.  Jerome, 
"  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxxv.) 

X  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  works  of  Origen, 
Delarue  Edit.,  and  in  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacras,"  IV.  339. 

§  "  Ubi  Origenis  cognita  fuerint  esse  quae  placebant,  statim 
displicent  statim  haeretica  esse  dicuntur."     (Ibid.,  346.) 

||  "  Consequens  erat  neque  facile  condemnare  et  alienum  ab 
ecclesiastica  doctrina  temere  pronunciare."     (Ibid.,  341.) 

T  "  Nihil  sibi  cum  ipsius  doctrina  commune  esse  confirmant." 
(Ibid.,  347.) 

**  Eusebius,  "  De  Martyr.  Palest.,"  xi. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    359 

a  man  to  yield  to  the  opinion  of  any,  even  of  Christians, 
if  it  seemed  to  him  unjust,  and  his  last  days  were 
devoted  to  the  defence  of  the  great  saint,  who,  in  spite 
of  numerous  faults,  had  admirably  harmonised  the 
claims  of  science  and  piety.  But  this  defence  could 
not  obtain  a  hearing  in  a  time  rife  for  the  definitive 
triumph  of  the  hierarchical  party.  Origen  must  in- 
evitably be  found  wanting  when  weighed  in  the 
balances  of  great  councils.  With  Pamphylus,  the 
era  of  free  Christian  theology  in  the  Eastern  Church 
ends. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   FATHERS    OF    THE   WESTERN    CHURCH,    FROM 
COMMODUS   TO    CONSTANTINE. 

§  I.  The  Fathers  and  Bishops  of  the  Novth-West. 

The  Western  Church  presents  an  ever  growing  con- 
trast to  the  Church  of  the  East.  It  never  enters  into 
the  speculations  of  religious  philosophy.  We  find  in 
it  more  schisms  than  heresies.  Instead  of  disputing 
about  the  speculative  foundations  of  Christianity, 
ecclesiastical  government  forms  the  subject  of  debate, 
or  questions  of  discipline  are  agitated,  as  by  the  Nova- 
tians  and  the  Montanists.  Thus  Italy  and  Africa 
present  us  with  types  widely  differing  from  those  we 
have  been  contemplating  in  the  East.  The  first  great 
figure  which  passes  before  us  belongs,  however,  to 
the  family  of  the  Alexandrine  doctors.  St.  Hippolytus, 
who  was  bishop  in  Italy,  took  part  in  all  the  doctrinal 
disputations  of  the  day,  and  entered  into  the  internal 
deliberations  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  with  a  spirit  at 
once  liberal  and  ardent.  He  might  be  called  the 
Origen  of  the  West,  without  the  calmness  and  serenity, 
without  also  the  brilliant  genius  of  the  Alexandrine 
Father.*  Born  in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century, 
*  In  reference  to    Hippolytus,    see    the    "  Philosophoumena," 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.         361 

probably  in  Italy,  the  speculative  bent  of  his  mind 
made  him  seek  the  East  as  his  intellectual  fatherland. 
There  he  abode  a  long  time  ;  so  at  least  we  are  led  to 
conclude  from  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  oriental 
heresies  Such  journeyings  were  very  common  among* 
the  Christians  of  his  time.  It  is  certain  that  he  was 
the  immediate  disciple  of  Irenaeus.*  He  passed  some 
years  at  Lyons  with  the  Apostle  of  Gaul.  Chosen  to 
the  office  of  elder  at  Rome,  he  was  called  to  take  the 
oversight  of  a  neighbouring  church  in  the  port  of  Rome 
or  Ostia.  if  we  may  credit  Prudentius.t  Here  also  his 
statue  was  found.  He  was  the  first  celebrated  preacher 
of  the  West.  One  of  his  homilies,  having  for  its  sub- 
ject the  glory  of  Christ,  was  delivered  in  the  presence 

Miller's  Edition  ;  "  Hippolyti  Refutatio  omnium  Hasresium;"  Re- 
censuerunt  Latine  verterunt,  notas  adjicerunt."  (Lud.  Duneker 
et  F.  G.  Schneidewin.  Gcittingen,  1859.)  Abbe  Cruice  has  re- 
cently published  an  edition  of  this,  with  notes  and  commentaries 
(Paris,  i860.  The  "  Works  of  St.  Hippolytus  "  have  been  edited 
by  Fabricius.  On  the  same  subject,  consult  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.," 
VI.  xx.;  St.  Jerome,  "De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxi. ;  Lenain  de  Tillemont, 
"  Memoires,"   III.  236  ;  Bunsen,  "  Hippolytus." 

*  Photius  calls  him  the  disciple  of  Irenaeus  :  MafJ?;r/)g  'Eiprjvaiov. 
("Codex/' cxxi.) 

I  Le  Moyne  has  asserted  that  Hippolytus  was  Bishop  of  Portus 
Romanus,  in  Arabia,  the  modern  city  of  Aden.  He  grounds  his 
statement  on  the  fact  that  Eusebius  placed  the  name  of  Hippolytus 
side  by  side  with  that  of  Beryl  of  Bostra,  who  was,  as  we  know, 
an  Arabian  bishop.  (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.."  VI  ,  xx)  This  supposi- 
tion will  not  bear  investigation,  especially  since  the  discovery  of 
the  "  Philosophoumena. '  It  is  certain  that  Hippolytus  was  bishop 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  We  read,  in  fact,  in  the  "  Philoso- 
phoumena," p.  3,  'Apxitpartias  re  K-ai  didaoKctXiaQ  furixovng.  To 
reconcile  this  post  of  biskop  with  that  ot  elder,  which  the  author  of 
the  "  Philosophoumena"  seems  to  have  held,  Bunsen  asserts  that 
from  the  second  century  the  bishops  of  the  towns  adjacent  to  Rome 
had  seats  in  the  Council  of  the  Central  Church,  like  the  cardinals 
of  our  day,  several  of  whom  are  bishops.  ("  Hippolytus,"  I.  153.) 
Hippolytus  was  designated  Bishop  of  Ostia  by  Peter  of  Alexandria 
in  his  "Chronicon  Paschale;"  by  Cyril,  Nicephorus,  Zonaras,  and 
Anastasius.  His  paschal  cycle  accords  with  the  usages  of  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

24 


362      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  Origen.*  He  doubtless  entered  into  familiar  rela- 
tions with  the  great  Eastern  doctor,  to  whom  he  would 
be  drawn  by  all  the  affinities  of  heart  and  mind.  He 
was,  in  truth,  like  Origen,  engaged  in  the  study  of  the 
most  important  questions  of  religious  philosophy  and 
doctrine,  and  shared  his  keen  abhorrence  of  the  growing 
usurpations  of  the  hierarchical  party.  The  writings  of 
Hippolytus  exhibit  this  twofold  tendency.  He  is  known 
to  have  written  commentaries  on  the  greater  part  of  the 
books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  a  treatise  on 
Antichrist,  whom  he  supposes  about  to  be  revealed; 
treatises  on  the  Gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  on  God  and 
the  Resurrection  of  the  Body  ;  on  Good,  and  the  Origin 
of  Evil ;  on  the  Work  of  the  Six  Days  ;  a  Paschal  Cycle, 
and  a  ''Chronicle,"  after  the  manner  of  that  of  Julius 
Africanus.  Homilies  of  his  for  feast-days  were  also 
handed  down  in  the  Church.  His  book  on  Substance 
was  a  polemical  writing  directed  against  Platonism. 
He  is  also  known  to  have  addressed  a  letter  to  Severina, 
one  of  the  great  Roman  ladies  belonging  to  the  im- 
perial court.  He  was  pre-eminently  distinguished  as 
a  polemic.  He  directed  a  special  argumentative  treatise 
to  the  Jews  ;  but  he  reserved  all  his  strength  for  the 
conflict  with  the  heretics.  We  may  mention  among 
the  writings  belonging  to  this  category,  his  book  on  the 
Incarnation,  opposing  the  heretic  Vero ;  his  homily 
against  Noetus,  his  Little  Labyrinth,  directed  against 
Artemon  ;  and  finally,  his  great  wTork  upon  "  All  the 
Heresies,"  a  brief  epitome  of  which  he  himself  edited. 
This  is  a  vast  repertory,  reviewing  all  the  doctrinal 
controversies  in  the  Church,  from  the  earliest  ages  and 
most  obscure  commencements  of  Gnosticism.    Christian 

*  iiUpo<roi.u\iavde  laude Domini  Salvatoris, in  qua  prassenteOrigene, 
se  loqui  in  Ecclesia  significat."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  Ixi.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.     363 

antiquity  has  left  us  no  more  valuable  monument  than 
the  "  Philosophoumena"  of  Hippolytus,  discovered  a  few 
years  since  among  the  rusty  treasures  of  a  convent 
on  Mount  Athos.*  Without  entering  here -upon  any 
analysis  of  the  system  of  Hippolytus,  we  may  indicate 
its  main  characteristics.  It  is  distinguished  by  a  sort 
of  fusion  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  elements.  The 
Bishop  of  Ostia  is  indeed  the  contemporary  of  Origen, 
but  he  is  also  the  disciple  of  Irenseus.  He  tempers  the 
idealism  of  the  one  with  the  moderate  realism  of  the 
other  ;  and  in  his  interpretations  of  prophecy,  he  is  far 
too  close  a  follower  of  the  Bishop  of  Lyons.  He  has 
not  the  fertile  originality  of  Origen.  He  is  an  indefati- 
gable compiler,  who  in  the  great  cause  at  issue  between 
Christianity  and  heresy,  seeks  rather  to  bring  forward 
many  documents  and  conclusive  testimonies,  than  to 
establish  his  point  by  close  argument.  The  scholar  is 
more  evident  than  the  divine  or  the  philosopher.  He 
pleads  before  the  tribunal  of  history  rather  than  before 
that  of  conscience.  He  delights  to  trace  the  genealogy 
of  the  ideas  which  he  is  opposing,  and  when  he  has  once 
proved  the  pagan  origin  of  a  heresy,  he  considers  he 
has  gained  a  decisive  victory.  This  great  importance 
attached  to  history,  evidently  excessive  in  an  argu- 
mentative point  of  view,  and  weakening  th~  force  of 
the  discussion  of  ideas  on  their  own  merits,  gives 
an  immense  value  of  another  kind  to  his  works, 
since  it  makes  them  a  treasury  of  documents  directly 
bearing  on  Christian  antiquity.  If  Hippolytus  may 
be  justly  reproached  with  an  undue  love  of  tradi- 
tion, he  nevertheless  relies  solely  on  the  power  of 
persuasion,  and  formally  rejects  the  support  of  purely 
external  authority  in  the  conflict  with  heresy.  "  We 
*  See  note  C.  at  the  close  of  the  Volume. 


364  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

use  the  weapons,  not  of  force,"  he  says,  "but  of 
the  demonstration  of  the  truth."*  In  fact,  therefore, 
he  had  fully  adopted  the  great  apologetic  method  of 
Alexandria ;  he  believed  in  the  profound  harmony 
between  the  human  soul  and  God ;  he  was,  as  he 
himself  tells  us,  a  merciful  disciple  of  the  Word,  who 
is  the  friend  of  man.t 

We  do  not  know  on  what  ground  Hippolytus 
received  the  name  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Nations;  but 
he  had  well  merited  it,  if  it  embodied  the  recogni- 
tion of  his  noble  and  sympathetic  concern  for  pagan 
humanity.  In  doctrine,  Hippolytus  is  altogether  a 
disciple  of  the  school  of  Origen  and  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria.  He  displays  the  same  indefiniteness  of 
formula  combined  with  the  same  firmness  in  the  faith. 
His  book  against  heresies  shows  him  equally  opposed 
to  hierarchical  pretensions  and  doctrinal  errors.  Both 
'  were  leagued  against  him  in  the  violent  controversy 
which  he  sustained  with  the  Bishop  Callisthus,  of  whose 
blameworthy  life  and  intrigues  he  speaks  with  im- 
placable severity,  and  with  a  degree  of  passion  which 
scarcely  allows  him  to  be  an  equitable  judge.  But  it 
is  a  noble  passion  which  moves  him ;  he  is  eager  to 
maintain  at  once  the  holiness  and  liberty  of  the  Church, 
and  he  is  justly  indignant  with  those  who  purchase 
accession  to  power  by  connivance  at  sin,  and  who  were 
willing  to  sacrifice,  for  the  sake  of  the  new  rights 
coveted  by  the  priestly  hierarchy,  the  severe  rules  of 
ancient  discipline.  We  shall  presently  trace  these 
internal  conflicts  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  had 
the  effect  cf  placing  the  power  of  the  keys  in  the 
hands  of  the  bishops,  in  a  sense  widely  different  from 


r 


*  Ou  j3ia  diapp)i$avTsg,  d\\a  [xovy  tdiyxv  n\r]9eias  Svva/iei  SiaXvauvreg. 
Philos.,"  310.)  f  Ibid.,  339. 


BOOK  II.— THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   365 

that  of  the  Gcspel.  In  order  to  understand  them,  we 
must  know  all  that  had  gone  before  and  led  to  them. 
Let  it  suffice  us  now  to  say,  that  Hippolytus  showed  in 
these  melancholy  controversies  an  indomitable  energy, 
not  free  from  some  admixture  of  roughness.  He  pro- 
tested vehemently  against  the  unworthy  proceedings  of 
an  ambitious  and  immoral  bishop,  who,  after  making 
sure  his  election  by  canvassing  for  the  suffrages  of  the 
heretics,  sought  to  establish  his  power  by  showing  a  cul- 
pable leniency  to  evil.  Hippolytus  denounced  him  to 
the  universal  Church,  stamping  on  his  brow  an  inefface- 
able brand.  His  testimony,  long  stifled,  is  heard  in  our 
own  day  with  as  much  force  as  in  the  time  of  Callisthus, 
reminding  the  Church  that  her  liberty  is  lost  only  in 
the  measure  in  which  her  holiness  is  compromised.* 

The  Church  of  Rome  would  not  have  had  leisure 
to  give  itself  to  internal  discussions,  if  it  had  not  been 
in  the  enjoyment  of  tranquillity,  for  which  it  was  in- 
debted to  the  precarious  favour  of  Heliogabalus,  and  the 
enlightened  protection  of  Alexander  Severus.  With 
Maximinus,  persecution  recommenced.  The  same  year 
in  which  Alexander  Severus  died,  Hippolytus  was  sent 
into  Sardinia  with  the  Bishop  Pontianus.t  If  we  are 
to  believe    Prudentius,   he  was  promptly  recalled,  but 

*  Prudentius  in  his  Hymn  xi.,  Uepi  <jT£<paviov,  preserved  the 
memory  of  these  painful  discussions.  He  represented  Hippolytus 
as  a  repentant  Novatian.  Hippolytus,  who  died  between  the  years 
230  and  240,  could  not  have  belonged  to  a  sect  which  only  made 
its  appearance  in  245  ;  but  Prudentius  in  this  statement  only  echoes 
a  tradition  based  upon  truth,  which  preserved  the  recollection  of 
his  opposition  to  the  party  dominant  at  Rome. 

f  We  read  in  an  ancient  manuscript  of  the  "  Liber  Pontificalis." 
Pontianus,  ann.  V.,  m.  II.  ;  d.  vii.,  fuit  temporibus  Alexandri. 
Eo  tempore  Pontianus  episcopus  et  Ypolytus  presbyter  sunt 
deportati  in  Sardinia,  Severo  et  Quirilino  coss.  1235)."  Evidently 
by  "  temporibus  Alexandri "  we  must  understand  the  last  year  of 
his  reign,  which  was  also  the  first  of  Maximinus  the  Thracian. 


366  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

only  to  become  a  martyr.*  His  bones  were  carried 
to  Rome,  and  placed,  in  the  time  of  Constantine, 
beside  the  revered  remains  of  St.  Laurentius.  The 
chapel  reared  to  his  honour  always  attracted,  Prudentius 
tells  us,  a  large  concourse  of  people.  It  was  probably 
at  this  period  that  the  statue  was  erected  to  him,  which 
is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Vatican,  and  which  brings 
before  our  eyes  the  noble  and  austere  form  of  a  martyr 
bishop.  The  head  is  life-like,  the  brow  broad,  the 
expression  full  of  firmness  and  fervour,  and  of  that  mys- 
tical illumination  so  striking  in  the  rude  sketches  of  the 
catacombs.  We  love  to  picture  to  ourselves,  under  such 
a  form,  the  heroic  champion  of  the  Church's  freedom, 
who  combined,  with  a  blameless  deportment  and  iervent 
faith,  depth  of  learning  and  breadth  of  thought. 

Shortly  before  Hippolytus,  there  lived  at  Rome  a 
Christian  theologian  so  closely  resembling  Hippolytus 
in  spirit  and  doctrine,  that  the  two  have  more  than 
once  been  confounded.  This  was  Caius,  who  was 
raised  to  the  office  of  elder.t  The  most  important 
event  of  his  life  was  a  conference  with  Proclus,  one  of 
the  heads  of  the  Montanist  sect.  He  entered  into  the 
discussion  with  much  energy, X  and  made  a  memorial 
of  it,  in  a  writing  which,  according  to  Photius  and  St. 
Jerome,  gained  much  repute. §  Caius  was  led  by  his 
earnest  repudiation  of  the  views  of  the  millenarians, 
to  call   in  question  the  genuineness  of  the  Revelation, 

*  Prudentius,  in  the  Hymn  already  quoted,  represents  the 
martyrdom  of  Hippolytus  under  fanciful  colours.  He  makes  him 
undergo  the  fate  of  the  son  of  Theseus.  Clearly  the  analogy  of  the 
names  has  led  to  a  confusion  between  Christian  legend  and  Greek- 
mythology.     (Bunsen,  "Hippolytus,"  I.  158-161.) 

*f*  'Aviip  (KKXijaiaoriKoc.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  II.  xxv.l 

t  "  Disputationcm  adversum  Proculum  Montani  sectatorem 
valde  insignem  habuit."      (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lix.j 

§  Photius,  "  Codex,"  xlviii. 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.       367 

which  he  ascribed  to  Cerinthus,  who,  he  averred,  had 
been  artful  enough  to  make  it  pass  under  the  revered 
name  of  St.  John.  It  was  Caius,  also,  who  first  sug- 
gested the  doubt  whether  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
was  really  written  by  St.  Paul.*  It  follows  from  these 
few  scattered  hints,  gathered  from  the  history  of  the 
time,  that  Caius  held  remarkably  liberal  views  in 
relation  to  ecclesiastical  tradition,  and  was  inclined 
strongly  towards  oriental  idealism.  Christian  antiquity 
is  still  more  meagre  in  details  of  the  most  distinguished 
apologist  of  the  Church  of  Italy.  Minucius  Felix  is 
known  to  us  only  by  his  famous  dialogue.  He  had 
been  an  advocate  before  embracing  Christianity,  and 
we  recognise  in  him  a  man  practised  in  discussion. 
According  to  St.  Jerome,  he  had  gained  much  dis- 
tinction at  the  bar,  previous  to  coming  forward  as  the 
defender  of  Christianity,  before  a  greater  assemblage 
than  any  Roman  forum,  since  his  voice  was  to  be  heard 
throughout  the  whole  world. t  He  does  not  treat  his 
subject  in  so  exalted  a  manner  as  Clement  and  Origen, 
but  his  book  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  ordinary  calibre 
of  mind.  His  "  Octavius "  is  a  conversation  full  of 
naturalness,  of  clearness,  and  of  character,  between  two 
men  of  cultivation  rather  than  of  learning,  who  are 
not  clothed  in  the  philosopher's  mantle,  and  do  not 
discourse  according  to  the  rules  of  the  schools.  The 
charm  of  the  dialogue  consists  mainly  in  the  absence  of 
all  philosophical  pretensions.  There  is  no  trace  of  a 
formal  discussion  ;  it  is  simply  the  free  interchange 
of  thought  between  friends.  Such  was  the  treatment 
which  religious  questions  might  fairly  expect  in  polite 

* "  Epistolas  Pauli  .tredecim  tantum  cnumcr.it  quartam  quae 
fertur  ad  Hebraeos  dicit  non  ejus  esse.''  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  lix.) 

t  "  Romas  insignis  causidieus."     (Ibid  ,  lv.) 


368  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

society,  among  men  who  knew  and  appreciated  each 
other.  The  "  Stromata  "  and  the  book  "Contra 
Celsum,"  display,  it  is  true,  wealth  of  an  altogether 
different  kind,  but  this  current  apology  has  its  value. 
The  style  of  Minucius  Felix  is  of  a  good  school  for  his 
age ;  it  is  simple  and  graphic.  In  its  transparent 
falness  it  exhibits  a  mind  acute  rather  than  profound, 
but  luminous,  exact,  and  strongly  penetrated  with  the 
great  truths  of  the  Gospel. 

The  Church  of  the  North-west  has  only  one  name  to 
contribute  to  the  writers  of  this  period — that  of  Victor, 
bishop  in  Pannonia,  who,  unskilled  in  the  Latin  tongue, 
wrote  in  a  barbarous  style,  and  with  but  moderate 
erudition,  commentaries  on  several  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  on  the  Revelation,  as  also  a  volume 
on  heresies.  He  delights  in  all  the  puerilities  of  the 
symbolism  of  numbers.     He  died  a  martyr.* 

The  intellectual  activity  of  the  Church  of  Rome  was 
not  proportioned  to  its  importance.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  growth  of  the  Church  was  owing  to  the  absence 
of  theological  controversies.  No  question  of  religious 
philosophy  came  to  distract  its  bishops  from  the  care  of 
its  good  government,  and  from  the  extension  of  their 
own  authority.  It  is  only  just,  however,  to  admit  that 
its  leaders  were  generally  men  of  true  metal,  often 
narrow-minded,  but  always  valiant  at  heart,  ready  to 
serve  the  Church  either  by  life  or  death.  The  greater 
number  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  shed  their  blood  for 
Christ,  and  thus  earned  to  themselves  the  highest 
honour.  Their  martyrdom  was  to  pave  the  way  for 
their  successors  to  ecclesiastical  royalty,  and  the  Church 

*  "  Victorinus  Petavionensis  Episcopus  non  asque  Latine  ut 
Graece  noverat.  Unde  opera  ejus  gradia  sensibus  viliore  videntur 
compositione  verborum."     (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxxiv.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        369 

of  Rome  thus  advanced  daily  nearer  to  the  end  towards 
which  it  was  impelled,  alike  by  its  own  genius  and 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  age.*"  The  list  of  Roman 
bishops  commences  under  Commodus  with  the  two  least 
honourable  names.  We  have  already  mentioned  Zephy- 
rinus,  in  speaking  of  Origen's  visit  to  Rome.  He  was 
an  ignorant  old  man,  of  feeble  mind,  incapable  of  dis- 
criminating between  truth  and  heresy,  possessed  with  the 
greed  of  gain,  and  the  docile  instrument  of  the  intrigues 
of  Callisthus,  formerly  a  slave. t  He  did  nothing  without 
the  counsel  of  this  cunning  and  crafty  man,  and  fancied 
he  was  governing  the  Church,  when  in  truth  he  was 
but  the  servile  tool  of  another.^  Callisthus  had  been  the 
slave  of  a  pious  and  venerated  man  named  Carpophorus, 
who  belonged  to  the  emperor's  household.  He  early 
showed  a  restless,  ambitious,  and  unscrupulous  spirit. 
His  master,  relying  on  his  honesty,  and  willing  to  turn 
his  talents  to  account,  confided  to  him  a  sum  of  money 
which  he  himself  held  in  trust,  to  be  used  in  some 
banking  transactions.  Callisthus'  transactions  were  of 
a  very  simple  kind :  they  consisted  merely  in  the 
embezzlement  of  the  funds  with  which  he  had  been 
entrusted — funds  which  ought  to  have  been  doubly 
sacred  to  him,  since  they  were  the  sole  resources  of 
widows  and  fatherless  children,  placed  in  his  hands  on 
the  faith  of  his  piety.  ||  He  appropriated  the  whole 
sum,  says  Hippolytus,  and  then  found  himself  in 
difficulties.     Some  have  tried  to  represent  him  as  the 

*  The  principal  authority,  after  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  is  the 
"  Liber  Pontificalis  "  of  Anastatius.  See  also  Lenain  de  Tille- 
mont,  "Memoires,"  III.  IV.;  Routh,  "  Reliq.  Sacrae." 

f  Tjttyvpivov  avepos  iChotov  teal  OHTXpoKfjOOoC'e.      (*'  Philos.,"  279) 

I  Ibid.,  278-288.  The  following  account  is  taken  from  the 
"  Philosophoumena." 

j|  'O  ci  tZcKpapiaag  to.  Travra  rfTropv.   (Ibid.,  286.) 


370  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

unfortunate  victim  of  a  commercial  speculation ;  but  if 
this  had  been  the  case,  Callisthus  would  have  been  more 
open  with  Carpophorus,  who  was  not  a  hard  master,  as 
is  proved  by  the  readiness  with  which  he,  in  the  end, 
released  the  defaulter.  The  bankrupt  slave,  burdened 
with  an  evil  conscience,  instead  of  giving  any  explana- 
tion of  his  conduct,  took  to  flight.  He  hurried  to  the 
sea-coast,  and  embarked  in  a  vessel  ready  to  start.  His 
master,  following  on  his  track,  came  on  board  the  same 
ship.  No  sooner  did  Callisthus  see  him  than  he  threw 
himself  into  the  sea,  preferring  death  to  the  shame  of 
being  retaken.  He  was  with  great  difficulty  rescued, 
and  the  evidence  thus  given  of  his  guilty  fear  was 
unmistakable.  Carpophorus  laid  upon  him  only  the 
lenient  punishment  of  making  him  grind  in  the  mill. 
Callisthus  soon  contrived  an  ingenious  method  for 
recovering  his  liberty.  He  worked  on  the  compassion 
of  a  number  of  Christians,  and  persuaded  them  that  if 
he  were  released,  he  would  be  able  to  replace  a  part  of 
the  funds  entrusted  to  him.  Carpophorus  yielded  the 
more  willingly  to  their  intercessions,  because  he  was 
himself  most  anxious  to  recover  the  moneys  placed  in 
the  hands  of  his  slave,  and  for  which  constant  applica- 
tions were  made  to  him.  The  hope  proved  a  mere 
chimera.  Callisthus  knew  better  than  anyone  that  the 
money  received  by  him  had  been  all  squandered.  Finding 
himself  set  at  liberty,  but  kept  under  strict  surveillance, 
he  was  in  a  fresh  difficulty,  from  which  he  was  at  a  loss 
how  to  escape.*  The  money  was  not  forthcoming,  the 
creditors  were  clamorous,  the  master  would  be  relent- 
less. Callisthus  felt  himself  a  ruined  man,  but  he 
endeavoured  to  give  an  honourable  colouring  to  his 
misfortune.     He   devised    a   tragi-comic    scene,  which 

*'Octfai£tv  t%wv  airoCLCovai,  Tsyvrpt  Oavdrov  tTnvoijoe.     ("Philos.,"287.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   371 

shows  his  consummate  craftiness.  He  said  to  himself 
that  if  he  could  grasp  the  martyr's  palm,  that  would 
shield  him  from  dishonour.  What  did  he  do,  therefore  ? 
Under  pretext  of  reclaiming  some  money  from  the  Jews, 
whose  mercantile  vocation  was  already  very  marked, 
he  repaired  to  their  synagogue  ;  but  as  they  owed 
him  nothing,  he  had  no  claim  to  present.  Instead 
of  speaking  of  a  debt  which  was  purely  imaginary,  he 
began  to  use  violent  language,  and  entered  into  a  hot 
and  bitter  controversy  with  them.  He  loudly  pro- 
nounced the  well-known  watch-nvord  :  "  I  am  a  Chris- 
tian! "  But  this  heroic  saying  fell  discordantly  from  the 
lips  of  a  false  slave.  When  brought  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  town  prefect,  he  was  quickly  confounded  by  his 
master,  who  declared  that  this  bold  Christian,  this 
aspirant  after  martyrdom,  was  nothing  better  than  an 
unfaithful  steward.  The  Jews,  imagining  that  Carpo- 
phorus  sought  to  save  his  servant  by  a  subterfuge,  re- 
iterated their  accusations,  and  Callisthus  was  sentenced 
to  work  in  the  mines  in  Sardinia.  Even  there  he  gave 
proof  of  his  inexhaustible  cunning.  Marcia,  the  mis- 
tress of  Commodus,  some  time  subsequently,  asked 
Bishop  Victor  for  a  list  of  the  Christian  exiles  in 
Sardinia,  and  obtained  their  pardon  from  the  emperor. 
Naturally  the  name  of  Callisthus  did  not  appear  on  this 
list,  for  a  condemnation  for  theft  could  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  martyr's  doom.  Callisthus,  however, 
so  worked  by  tears  and  entreaties  upon  Hyacinth,  a 
eunuch  of  the  court  of  Commodus,  who  was  charged 
with  the  mission  of  delivering  the  captives,  that  he 
got  his  name  added  to  those  inscribed  on  the  roll  of 
amnesty.*     Bishop  Victor  was  bitterly  annoyed  to  see 

*  '0  ck    yovv7rtTuii>    Kcii    StuepvuP  'ac'rsvi    Kai    aurui;   Tv\tlv    diroXuauoc. 

("  Philos.,"  288.)    . 


3J2  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

him  come  back,  but,  being  a  merciful  man,  he  left  him 
in  quiet,  and  to  avoid  the  shame  and  scandal  to  which 
his  appearance  gave  rise,  sent  him  to  live  in  the  country 
on  the  bounty  of  the  Church.  There  the  favour  of 
Bishop  Zephyrinus  sought  him  out,  and  he  at  once 
entered  upon  public  life.  It  is  evident  that  he  was 
utterly  unfit  for  the  important  functions  now  assigned  to 
him.  In  the  first  place  he  was  a  man  of  no  cultivation. 
He  had  not  had  time  in  his  stormy  life  to  make  himself 
familiar  with  the  great  questions  under  consideration  in 
the  Church.  He  had  ntft  the  true  intuition  of  Christian 
feeling.  He  carried  into  the  management  of  the  affairs 
of  the  Church,  the  same  bold  and  artful,  subtle  and 
intriguing  spirit  which  he  had  manifested  in  the  service 
of  his  old  master ;  he  went  about  to  betray  the  Divine 
Head  of  the  Church  as  he  had  betrayed  Carpophorus, 
and  to  deal  falsely,  not  this  time  with  a  trust  of  money, 
but  with  the  trust  of  doctrine  and  discipline.  He  was 
to  be,  not  the  good  shepherd  who  gives  his  life  for  the 
sheep,  but  the  mercenary  who  sells  the  flock  for  gain. 
Under  Zephyrinus,  whom  he  led  at  will,  he  had  but  one 
idea,  but  one  aim — to  ensure  his  own  election  to  the 
episcopacy.*  Hippolytus  describes  him  in  these  indig- 
nant words  :  "  He  was  a  veritable  magician,  a  cunning 
and  perfidious  seducer,  who  managed  to  bewitch  with 
his  sorceries  many  of  the  brethren,"?  Having  attained 
his  ends,  and  entered  into  alliance  with  some  oriental 
heretics,  he  endeavoured  to  extend  widely  the  claims  of 
the  episcopate.  We  shall  see  how  he  succeeded  when 
we  come  to  describe  the  ecclesiastical  revolutions  of 
this  period.  Callisthus,  according  to  the  "  Roman  Mar- 
tyrology,"  died  a  martyr  in  the  year  222.     The  question 

*  QrjptbfiEvog  rov  t7)q  kiriaKOTrrfQ  Qpovo.      ("  Philos.,"  284.) 
t  'Hy  obv  yorjg.      (Ibid.,  289.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   373 

natuially  arises,  how  a  bishop  of  Rome  could  have  been 
put  to  death  at  this  date,  under  the  reign  of  Alexander 
Severus.  The  fact  is  not  absolutely  impossible,  for 
persecution  never  completely  ceased,  but  the  date 
named  lends  colour  to  a  doubt  of  the  truth  of  the 
story. 

We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  mere  mention  of 
the  immediate  successors  of  Callisthus — Urban  and 
Pontianus.  The  latter  was  sent  as  an  exile  into 
Sardinia,  with  Hippolytus,  under  Maximinus,  and 
there  died.  Antherus,  who  succeeded  Pontianus,  only 
just  assumed  the  episcopal  dignity,  and  was  followed 
almost  immediately  by  Fabian.  According  to  the 
account  of  Eusebius,  no  one  would  have  thought  of 
nominating  Fabian,  if  a  dove,  alighting  on  his  head, 
had  not  seemed,  as  the  organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to 
designate  him  to  the  office.*  After  his  martyrdom, 
two  great  bishops  presided  in  succession  over  the  see 
of  Rome.  These  were  Cornelius  and  Stephen.  The 
former,  who  rose  gradually  to  the  episcopate  by  all 
the  ascending  steps  of  the  hierarchy,  maintained  a 
vigorous  conflict  with  the  Novatians ;  he  had  them 
condemned  in  a  great  synod,  and  denounced  them  in 
his  letters  addressed  to  the  various  Churches.  He 
died  an  exile  and  a  martyr,  honoured  by  the  lamenta- 
tions and  by  the  tribute  of  Cyprian. t  The  latter,  after 
acting  in  harmony  with  the  Bishop  of  Carthage,  came 
to  a  difference  with  him  on  the  question  of  the  baptism 
of  heretics.  Stephen  was  on  the  point  of  taking  mea- 
sures which  would  have  violently  agitated  the  Church, 
when  he  was  thrown  into  prison.  His  cell  became  a 
sanctuary,  for  there  he  courageously  celebrated  divine 
service.     He  was  succeeded  after  his  death  by  Sixtus, 

*  Emebius,  "H.  E.,"  VII.  xxix.      f  Cyprian,  "  Epist.,"  lii.-lvii. 


374  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

who  had  been  his  deacon,  and  to  whose  charge  he 
had  committed  the  treasures  of  the  Church.  Sixtus 
trod  in  his  footsteps  both  in  the  false  assumption  of 
authority  and  in  heroic  fidelity.  He  was  put  to  death 
in  the  Cemetery  of  Callisthus,  in  which  he  had  taken 
refuge.*  Dionysius,  who  succeeded  him,  is  known 
only  by  his  polemics  against  Dionysius  of  Alexandria, 
with  reference  to  Sabellianism.t  The  other  Bishops  of 
Rome  during  this  period  have  left  no  mark  in  his- 
tory. They  all  laboured,  however,  with  equal  patience 
and  skill,  for  the  establishment  and  extension  of 
their  power.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  them 
actuated  by  vulgar  ambition ;  they  merely  obeyed 
the  instincts  of  their  race,  and  followed  the  current  of 
their  a^e. 


-cr 


§  II.  Tertidlian. 

We  have  alluded,  when  speaking  of  the  history  of 
missions  at  this  period,  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
people  who  inhabited  ancient  Carthage  at  the  com- 
mencement of  our  era.  Rude  in  nature,  under  the 
semblance  of  a  polished  civilisation ;  greedy  of  sensual 
gratifications,  superstitious  to  an  excess,  infatuated 
with  the  arts  of  magic,  and  uniting  to  these  barbarous 
tendencies  a  keen  relish  for  inflated  and  pretentious 
rhetoric,  such  as  is  ever  popular  in  an  age  of  social 
decline,  this  people  seemed  destined  to  be  one  of  the 
last  strongholds  of  paganism.  Christianity,  neverthe- 
less, effected  a  wide  entrance  among  them ;  nowhere 
had  it  so  rapidly  won  so  many  adherents,  but  neither 
had  it  anywhere  else  found  so  much  difficulty  in  com- 

*  "  Liber  Pontif.,"  xxiv.  f  Cyprian,  "  Epist.,"  Ixxxii. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   375 

pletely  assimilating  its  rapid  conquests.  The  African 
nationality  set  its  strong  stamp  upon  the  Church 
planted  on  this  burning  soil,  where  it  seemed  that  all 
nature  must  assume  a  quick  and  almost  passionate 
development.  This  very  nationality,  however,  gave  to 
Christianity  its  most  eloquent  defender,  in  whom  the 
intense  vehemence,  the  untempered  ardour  of  the  race, 
appear  purified  indeed,  but  not  subdued.  No  influence 
in  the  early  ages  could  equal  that  of  Tertullian  ; 
and  his  writings  breathe  a  spirit  of  such  undying 
power  that  they  can  never  grow  old,  and  even  now 
render  living,  controversies  which  have  been  silent 
for  fifteen  centuries.  We  must  seek  the  man  in  his 
own  pages,  still  aglow  with  his  enthusiasm  and  quiver- 
ing with  his  passion,  for  the  details  of  his  personal 
history  are  very  few.  The  man  is,  as  it  were,  absorbed 
in  the  writer,  and  we  can  well  understand  it,  for  his 
writings  embody  his  whole  soul.  Never  did  a  man 
more  fully  infuse  his  entire  moral  life  into  his  books, 
and  act  through  his  words.* 

Quintus  Septimus  Florens  Tertullianus,  born  in 
Carthage  in  the  year  160,  was  the  son  of  a  centurion 
of  the  proconsul  of  that  city.t  He  belonged  therefore 
to  that  middle  rank  of  life  which  compelled  him  to 
labour,  but  which  left  him  the  choice  of  a  vocation. 
Gifted  with  a  brilliant  imagination,  an  intellect  at  once 
powerful  and  pliant, X    he  was  a  born   orator.     He  was 

*  Beside  the  works  of  Tertullian,  see  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  cliv.  ;  Vincent  de  Lerins,  "  Commonitorium,"  I.  xxiv.  ; 
Lenain  de  Tillemont,  "  Mi  moires,"  III.  196;  Xeandcr,  "  Antig- 
nosticus.  Geist  des  Tertullianus"  (Berlin,  1S49)  ;  Bcehringer,  "Die 
Kirche  Christi,"  I.  270.     Consult  especially  Tertullian's  writings. 

t  "  Patre  centurione  proconsulari."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  liii.) 

X  "  Hie  acris  et  vehementis   ingenii."     (Ibid.) 


376  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

thus  led  to  embrace  the  profession  of  a  pleader.*  He 
retained  through  life  a  power  of  close,  consecutive, 
forcible  argument,  pushing  his  reasonings  to  their 
farthest  logical  consequences,  and  sometimes  even 
beyond.  The  golden  days  of  the  forum  were  over. 
The  magistracy  had  become  degraded,  like  all  other  in- 
stitutions, under  an  oppressive  government.  The  spirit 
of  liberty,  sometimes  tumultuous,  but  healthful  even 
in  its  violence,  no  longer  animated  the  speech  of  the 
orators.  All  was  sacrificed  to  effective  form ;  the 
rhetoricians  were  the  rulers  of  the  day.  Carthage  did 
not  compensate,  as  Alexandria  did,  defects  of  form  by 
the  wealth  of  philosophic  thought.  All  that  it  de- 
manded of  its  orators  was  a  profusion  of  images,  and 
perpetual  variety  in  the  colouring  of  their  harangues. 
It  cared  only  for  adornment,  and  was  charmed,  like  a 
savage  or  a  child,  with  mere  kaleidoscopic  effect.  The 
nearest  approach  to  barbarism  is  the  refinement  of  a 
people,  to  whom  the  noble  interests  of  freedom  and  of 
thought  are  but  matters  of  scorn.  Tertullian  had  not, 
therefore,  like  the  great  Alexandrian  doctors,  the  pri- 
vilege of  listening  to  earnest  philosophic  teaching.  He 
had  no  other  masters  than  those  rhetorical  jugglers, 
who,  like  Apolinus,  took  the  place  of  the  rope-dancers 
in  the  same  arena  on  which  they  used  to  give  their  per- 
formances. No  one  felt  the  transition  an  abrupt  one, 
lor  there  was  not  the  vestige  of  an  idea  or  a  sentiment 
expressed  in  the  florid  and  pretentious  discourses  de- 
livered in  the  public  place  of  concourse.  Tertullian 
would  have  perhaps  become  the  most  dazzling  of  these 

*  Toug  Poj/iaiojv  vofiovQ  rjKpi(3u>KL0£  avrjp.  (EusebillS,  "  H.  E. ,"  II.  ii.) 
We  must  not  confound  the  ecclesiastical  writer  of  whom  men- 
tion is  made  in  the  "  Pandectes,"  with  Tertullian.  Their  style 
is  totally  diverse.     (Neander,  "  Antignosticus,"  8.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.         377 

literary  necromancers,  if  he  had  not  embraced  a  faith 
which  converted  speech  into  the  sword  of  the  warrior, 
and  made  the  orator  a  witness  and  often  a  martyr.  It 
is  certain  that  during  this  early  period  of  his  life,  he 
amassed  a  great  store  of  knowledge  not  connected  with 
the  science  of  law.  His  writings  show  very  extensive, 
if  rather  discursive  erudition.  It  is  evident  that  he 
read  much,  but  rapidly ;  with  classical  literature  he 
was  not  very  familiar,  and  rarely  borrowed  from  it. 
With  his  turn  of  mind,  he  could  have  little  relish  for 
the  noble  simplicity  of  Homer  or  Sophocles.  Nor 
does  he  appear  to  have  deeply  studied  the  great  phi- 
losophers of  Greece.  He  confounds  all  their  systems 
under  one  common  anathema  ;  he  takes  them  in  a 
mass,  and  makes  no  distinction  between  their  various 
schools.  He  was  able,  however,  to  read  them  in  their 
own  language  ;  he  knew  Greek  well  enough  to  write  it 
easily,  from  which  we  may  infer  that  in  his  youth  he 
had  acquired  all  the  culture  open  to  the  student  of  his 
day  in  Carthage.* 

He  wrote,  before  his  conversion,  a  treatise  on  the 
difficulties  of  marriage.  "  When  he  was  stHl  young," 
says  Jerome,  "  he  played  upon  this  subject."  The 
expression  is  fair  and  naif,  showing  how  Tertullian 
exhibited  at  this  period  the  frivolity  habitual  to  the 
African  rhetorician,  to  whom  the  gravest  questions 
were  but  matters  of  jest.t 

Bad  taste  in  literature  was  not  the  worst  feature  of 
the  paganism  of  the  Decline.  At  Carthage,  in  particular, 
corruption  of  manners   had   reached   the  last  extreme. 

*  He  tells  us  that  he  had  written  works  in  Greek  :  "  De  isto 
jam  nobis  in  Grasco  digestum  est."     ("  De  Baptismo,"  xv.) 

f  "  Quum  adhuc  erat  adolescens  lusit  in  hac  materia."  (Hieron., 
"  Adv.  Iovin.,"  I.  xiii.) 

25 


37S      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

The  climate,  the  ancient  traditions  of  an  oriental  re- 
ligion, the  subversion  of  old  faiths,  the  degradation 
of  slavery — all  tended  to  aggravate  it,  and  Carthage 
was  the  Corinth  of  Africa,  a  Corinth  even  more  utterly 
corrupt  than  the  Grecian,  because  lacking  even  that 
superficial  polish  of  elegance  and  grace  which  the 
Hellenic  race  never  entirely  lost.  The  young  pleader, 
who  acknowledged  no  moral  restraint,  and  owned  no 
laws  but  those  of  euphonious  speech,  yielded  to  all 
the  seductive  influences  of  his  time.  He  himself 
tells  us  that  he  had  plunged  deep  into  debauch,  and 
signalised  himself  by  his  excesses.*  He  had,  doubt- 
less, in  memory  this  sad  phase  of  his  own  life  when 
he  depicted  adultery  in  such  flaming  characters,  and 
represented  it  as  the  foulest  form  of  crime,  asso- 
ciated in  the  prohibitions  of  the  law  of  God  with 
idolatry  and  homicide,  which  are,  in  fact,  almost 
always  its  necessary  companions. t  With  unshrinking 
boldness,  Tertullian  lifted  up  his  voice  against  this 
accursed  fraternity.  He  thus  speaks  in  the  name 
of  idolatry,  of  which  he  knew  so  well  the  fatally  cor- 
rupting influence  upon  the  moral  character:  "I — 
idolatry — Cave  furnished  adultery  with  most  abundant 
occasions.  My  groves,  my  high  places,  my  sacred 
streams,  and  my  very  temples  in  your  cities  know  this 

*  "  Ego  me  scio  neque  alia  carne  adulteria  commississe  neque 
nunc  alia  carne  ad  continentiam  eniti."  ("  De  Resurrectione  Carnis," 
5 1  )  The  word  adultery  must  be  taken  in  a  very  wide  accepta- 
tion. Tertullian.  in  his  treatise  on  Modesty,  applies  it  to  every 
guilty  liaison,  as  is  evident  from  the  following  passage:  "  Ubicunque 
vel  in  quamcunque  semetipsum  adulterat  et  stuprat,  qui  aliter 
quam  nuptiis  utitur"  l"  De  Pudicitia,"  iv.)  "  Peccator  mci 
simihs  (imo  me  minor),  ego  enim  praestantiam  in  delictis  meam 
agnosco."     ("  De  Pcenit,"  iv.) 

t  "  Inter  duos  apices  facinorum  eminentissimos  sine  dubio  digna 
consedit."     (Ibid.,  v.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.       379 

well  !"*  Tertullian  might  have  added:  "My  infamous 
places  of  amusement  know  it  also."  Experience  had 
taught  him  that  the  circus  and  the  theatre  were 
the  school  of  all  evils,  and  he  is  unquestionably 
recalling  the  memories  of  his  own  early  days,  when 
he  describes  the  fatal  influence  exerted  by  them  over 
the  souls  of  the  spectators.  He  knew  experimentally 
that  they  were  as  the  very  sanctuaries  of  infamy, t 
and  that  the  most  attractive  representations  were 
those  most  strongly  suggestive  of  adultery  and  sin. 
He  had  himself  breathed  that  tainted  atmosphere, 
and  Vould  fain  warn  his  brothers  against  the  same 
pollution. 

In  the  midst  of  this  dissolute  life,  the  young  pagan 
carried  concealed  under  the  smooth  exterior  of  a  world- 
ling of  the  age,  a  secret  uneasiness,  an  incurable  wound. 
What  but  his  own  conscience  could  have  been  speaking 
to  him  before  his  conversion,  with  that  Divine  voice 
which  renders  to  truth  a  testimony  so  much  the  more 
precious  that  it  is  spontaneous,  and  which  he  afterwards 
so  justly  called  the  witness  of  the  naturally  Christian 
soul  ?  He  had  then  felt  so  strongly,  as  distinctly  to 
remember  them,  the  fear  of  death  and  of  judgment,  the 
dread  of  the  powers  of  darkness,  the  need  of  a  Divine 
protection,  the  imperious  yearning  for  another  existence 
after  this  earthly  life, — all  those  experiences,  in  truth, 
which  are  the  voices  of  the  spirit  calling  for  Christ,  and 
which  he  was  to  analyse  with  so  much  discrimination  in 
the  sublime  pages  of  his  works,  j"  We  have  no  detailed 
account  of  his  conversion  to   Christianity.      We  may 

'••  "  Sciant  luci  mci  ct  montes  et  vivae  aquae  ipsaque  in  urbibus 
templa."    ("  De  Pcenit.,"  v.) 

t  "  Privatum  consistorium  impudicitiae."    ("  De  Spectac,"  xvii.) 
%  "  Testimonium  Animirj,"  vi. 


380  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

infer,  however,  from  a  sort  of  abruptness  characterising 
his  religious  creed,  that  he  was  not  led  to  embrace  it 
by  slow  and  long  research.  He  seems^  to  have  been 
snatched  as  it  were  at  once  from  the  life  of  paganism 
to  a  life  in  Christ.  He  did  not  rise,  like  Clement  and 
Justin,  by  the  study  of  ancient  philosophy,  to  the  lowest 
step  of  the  temple,  to  that  earnest  attitude  of  mind 
which  can  never  be  a  substitute  for  revelation,  but 
which  is  at  least  a  preparation  for  its  reception.  The 
change  in  Tertullian  must  have  been  almost  instanta- 
neous. # 

We  should  be  much  inclined  to  think  that  the  spec- 
tacle of  the  martyrs  going  courageously  and  joyfully  to 
meet  death,  produced  upon  him  the  deep  impression  he 
has  himself  described,  and  that  the  first  influence 
operating  upon  his  heart,  was  the  holy  contagion 
of  a  heroic  devotedness.  Be  this  as  it  may,  he 
entered  upon  his  new  career  with  all  the  impetuosity  of 
his  nature,  and  from  the  day  when  he  put  his  hand  to 
the  plough,  in  the  field  watered  with  so  much  blood,  he 
never  cast  one  glance  backward.  He  thought  of  the 
things  which  were  behind  only  as  things  accursed,  and 
pressed  forward  with  all  his  powers  towards  the  mark 
he  had  set  before  him.  He  trampled  under  foot, 
without  remorse,  everything  which  came  between  him 
and  his  aspirations,  whether  the  interposing  obstacle 
was,  as  at  one  time,  paganism  with  its  pomps  and 
glories,  or,  as  at  another,  the  ecclesiastical  forms  of 
his  day,  when  these  seemed  to  him  to  fail  of  their  true 
purpose.  He  was  ever  ready  to  avow  that  the  impos- 
sible alone  was  worth  aiming  at.  He  shared,  therefore, 
the  lot  of  all  such  ardent  and  aspiring  spirits ;  he  never 
knew  repose ;  his  hand  was  ever  against  every  man. 
His  life  was  one  long  struggle,  first  with  himself,  then 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   381 

with  every  influence  opposed  to  his  own  views,  or 
differing  only  from  his  by  greater  moderation.  To  him 
moderation  in  anything  was  impossible  ;  he  went  to 
extremes  both  in  hatred  and  love,  both  in  language  and 
thought  ;  but  every  act  and  word  was  the  result  of  deep 
conviction,  and  was  animated  by  that  which  alone  can 
give  vitality  to  the  efforts  of  any  human  spirit — a  sincere 
and  earnest  passion  for  truth.  Even  the  excess  of  his 
vehemence  gave  him  an  element  of  power,  for  it  com- 
manded the  service  of  a  fiery  eloquence.  His  whole 
character  is  summed  up  in  the  one  word,  passion — 
passion  made  to  subserve  the  holiest  of  causes,  pure 
from  all  petty  ambition,  but  constantly  betraying  itself 
into  harshness  and  injustice  towards  others.  "  Mis- 
erable man  that  I  am,"  he  exclaims,  "ever  consumed 
with  the  fire  of  impatience  I"*  This  ejaculation  truly 
expresses  the  man,  in  all  the  excessive  strength  of  his 
feelings,  and  no  less  in  the  admirable  humility  which 
made  him  ask  in  so  touching  a  manner  for  the  prayers 
of  his  readers. t 

The  passion  by  which  he  is  constantly  impelled  gives 
us  the  true  key  to  his  character  as  a  writer;  it  enables 
us  to  understand  both  his  defects  and  his  excellencies. 
It  would  be  vain  to  look  for  a  just  balance  of  thought 
in  such  a  man;  he  must  inevitably  attach  himself  exclu- 
sively now  to  one  side,  now  to  another  ;  one  day  he 
will  be  a  champion  of  Church  authority,  another,  he 
will  push  independence  to  its  utmost  bounds.  We  shall 
not  expect  to  find  in  him  the  breadth  of  spirit,  which 
is  always  accompanied  with  a   degree    of  indulgence, 

*  Miserrimus*  ego,  semper  aeger  caloribus  impatientiae."  (De 
Patientia,"  i. : 

f  "  Tantum  oro  ut  cum  petitis,  etiam  Tertulliani  peccatoris  memi- 
neritis."    ("  De  Baptismo,"  xx.) 


382  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

because  it  is  capable  of  comprehending  even  those  to 
whom  it  is  opposed,  and  of  discerning  the  points  of 
possible  conciliation.  Such  a  man  as  Tertullian  will 
always  and  everywhere  see  only  salient  contrasts,  and 
will  invariably  give  prominence  to  the  points  of  differ- 
ence between  his  own  views  and  the  systems  or  opinions 
with  which  he  is  in  conflict.  He  will  be  less  a 
metaphysician  than  a  dialectician.  Dialectics  will  be, 
in  his  hands,  a  formidable  weapon  of  offence,  a  terrible 
instrument  with  which  he  will  both  make  and  widen 
wounds.  If  he  chooses  to  restrict  himself  within  a 
limited  field,  he  will  dig  and  delve  into  its  most  hidden 
depths.  "  The  truth,"  he  says,  "lies  not  on  the  surface 
of  things,  but  in  their  substance,  and  is  most  often  the 
opposite  of  that  which  superficially  appears."*  Thus 
concentrated,  his  zeal  burns  but  the  more  fiercely; 
he  not  only  grasps  an  idea,  he  strains  it  with  all 
his  force,  and  often  demands  from  it  more  than  it  is 
able  to  give.  The  style  is  the  man,  it  has  been  said; 
and  these  words  are  emphatically  true  of  Tertullian. 
His  st)le  is  in  fact  the  exact  expression  of  his  soul; 
it  is  strong  even  to  hardness;  it  is  strained,  incorrect, 
African,  but  irresistible.  It  is  poured  forth  like  lava 
from  an  inward  furnace,  kept  ever  at  white  heat,  and 
the  track  of  light  it  leaves  is  a  track  of  fire  too.  It 
abounds  in  bold  and  splendid  images,  but  there  is 
nothing  gentle  or  joyous  in  its  brilliancy  ;  it  is  not  the 
calm  brightness  of  the  sun  ;  it  is  the  strange,  lurid  fire 
which  wreathes  round  the  summit  of  the  volcano,  and 
rises  in  red  smoke.  The  language  of  Tertullian  is  full 
of  sharp  and  abrupt  antitheses,  like  those  which  charac- 
terise   his   thoughts.      Two    hostile    worlds    appear   in 

*  "Veritas  non  in  superficie  est,  sed  in  medullis."    ("  De  Resur- 
rectione  Carnis,"  iii.j 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   383 

constant  collision  alike  in  his  words  and  in  his  ideas;  it 
is  war  to  the  death — a  fierce  and  tumultuous  struggle 
between  the  pagan  or  heretical  idea  and  the  Christian. 
In  every  phrase  one  might  seem  to  hear  the  sharp 
clash  of  swords  that  meet  and  cross,  and  the  spark 
which  dazzles  us  is  struck  from  the  ringing  steel. 
Hence  that  incomparable  eloquence,  which,  in  spite 
of  sophisms  and  exaggerated  metaphors,  ravishes  and 
rules  us  still. 

We  have  already  given  numerous  examples  of  Ter- 
tullian's  style,  and  we  shall  have  frequent  occasion 
to  multiply  such  instances  in  the  course  of  this  history, 
for  it  is  impossible  to  cite  any  lines  of  his  which  do 
not  clearly  show  the  impress,  the  fervid  force  of  his 
genius. 

We  have  but  few  details  of  the  life  of  Tertullian 
after  his  conversion.  We  know  only  that  he  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  priest  in  the  Church  of  Carthage.* 
St.  Jerome  speaks  of  him  under  this  title,  and  he 
himself  appears  to  assume  it  in  many  of  his  writings. 
He  was  married  ;  and  we  possess  two  letters  written 
by  him  to  his  wife.  If  he  seems  occasionally  to 
recognise  the  beauty  of  the  institution  of  marriage, 
he  nevertheless  carries  the  ascetic  tendency  so  far  as 
to  do  injustice  to  the  high  mission  of  Christian  parents. 
He  cannot  understand  the  desire  for  children,  not  only 
on  account  of  the  peril  of  their  souls,  but  also  in 
the  consideration  of  the  pains  they  will  cost,  and  the 
bitterness  sure  to  mingle  with  the  happiness  they  bring, 
as  if  these  very  pains  and  agonies,  borne  by  a  love 
of    deep  devotion,   were  not   the   highest  hallowing   of 

*  "  Tcrtullianus  presbyter."  (St.  Jerome, "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  liii  ) 
He    clearly   does    not    reckon  himself    among   the    laity.      ("  De 


384  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

the  parent  and  child-life.*  This  monastic  trait  is 
thoroughly  in  harmony  with  the  general  views  enter- 
tained by  Tertullian  of  human  life.  With  his  loins 
girt  about  and  his  lamp  burning,  he  awaits,  with 
irrepressible  impatience,  the  solemn  moment  which 
shall  close  the  present  and  inaugurate  the  glorious 
future.  "  The  end  of  time,"  he  says,  "  is  at  hand  for 
us."  He  believes  himself  ever  standing  on  the  verge 
of  the  last  judgment  ;  he  earnestly  yearns  for  it,  and 
anticipates  its  decisions.  He  exhibits,  therefore,  the 
most  profound  contempt  for  all  that  men  of  the  age 
covet,  for  all  that  might  sink  deeper  in  the  sand  the 
tabernacle  so  soon  to  be  taken  down.  Such  a  dis- 
position needed  but  to  be  developed  to  make  him  an 
ardent  Montanist.  His  adherence  to  that  heresy  is 
the  great  event  of  his  life,  an  event  which  divides 
his  moral  history  into  two  parts,  and  the  preparation 
and  results  of  which  we  shall  have  now  to  trace  in  his 
numerous  writings,  without,  however,  entering  on  a 
detailed  exposition  of  his  theological  system,  which 
would  here  be  out  of  place. 

His  first  writing  is  a  letter  to  the  martyrs,  or  rather 
to  the  Christians,  who  were  in  prison  awaiting  their 
final  doom.  In  this  letter  he  exhibits  that  ardent 
yearning  for  the  life  to  come,  and  that  contempt  for  the 
present  age,  wrhich  never  forsook  him.  To  him,  the 
poisonous  dungeon  into  which  the  captives  were  cast 
seemed  less  of  a  prison  than  the  great  world  with  its 
hollow  show  and  subtle  snares.  One  passage  of  this 
letter  lets  us  read  the  very  heart  of  the  author ;  it  is 
that  in  which  he  congratulates  the  martyrs  on  escaping 
the  saddening  and  sickening  spectacle  of  the  infamies 
of  pagan  society.  "  You  have  not  the  false  gods  before 
*  "  Liberorum  amarissima  voluptate."     ("Ad  Uxor.,"  v.) 


BOOK   II.— THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        385 

your  eyes,"  he  said  ;  "  you  have  not  to  pass  before 
their  statues;  you  need  not  participate  by  your  presence 
in  pagan  feasts ;  you  are  spared  the  pain  of  inhaling 
the  breath  of  impure  incense  ;  your  ears  are  not  offended 
with  the  clamorous  sounds  issuing  from  the  theatres, 
nor  your  souls  vexed  by  the  cruelty,  the  madness,  the 
vileness  of  those  who  perform  their  parts  there  ;  your 
eyes  are  not  polluted  by  the  scenes  witnessed  in  haunts 
of  vice  and  prostitution."* 

These  strong  expressions  mark  the  grief  and  indigna- 
tion which  filled  the  soul  of  Tertullian,  as  he  witnessed 
at  every  step  taken  along  the  streets  of  Carthage,  fresh 
proofs  of  the  accursed  influence  of  paganism.  We 
trace  the  same  emotions  in  his  treatise  on  the  Spectacles, 
which  is  of  the  same  date.  It  was  probably  composed 
on  the  occasion  of  the  solemn  games  celebrated  in 
honour  of  the  triumph  of  Septimus  Severus  over  his 
rivals.  These  great  representations,  provided  by  a 
victorious  emperor  to  gratify  public  curiosity,  were 
very  brilliant,  and  highly  attractive  to  the  masses. 
The  Christians  brought  out  of  paganism  found  it  hard 
to  go  against  a  torrent  which  carried  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  Carthage  in  a  body  to  the  circus.  The  very 
recollection  of  such  scenes  in  the  past  was  fraught 
with  temptation.  Tertullian,  like  a  vigilant  sentinel, 
uttered  his  cry  of  alarm  in  his  treatise  on  the  Spec- 
tacles. He  naturally  regards  them  with  extreme 
severity.  We  shall  here  cite  his  peroration,  which 
exhibits  all  the  great  qualities  of  his  eloquence.  Re- 
plying to  the  objection  that  it  must  be  lawful  to  have 
some  enjoyment  in  life,  he  exclaims,  addressing  himself 

*  "  Non  vides  alienos  deos,  non  nidoribus  spurcis  verberaris,  non 
clamoribus  spectaculorum,  atrocitate  vel  furore,  vel  impudicitia 
celebrantium  caederis."     ("  Ad  Martyr.,"  ii.) 


386  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  the  Christian  :  "  Art  thou,  then,  so  ungrateful  as  not 
to  acknowledge  the  many  and  great  joys  with  which 
thy  God  has  enriched  thee,  and  not  to  be  grateful  for 
them  ?  What  can  be  sweeter  than  the  pardon  of  God, 
our  Father  and  our  Lord,  or  than  the  revelation  of  truth  ? 
.  .  .  Is  there  a  greater  luxury  for  the  soul  than  to 
despise  luxury,  to  despise  the  present  age,  to  possess  true 
liberty,  a  clear  conscience,  a  life  which  satisfies,  and 
which  is  no  longer  troubled  with  the  fear  of  death,  and 
to  trample  under  foot  the  false  gods  of  the  nations  ? 
.  .  .  These  are  the  delights  of  Christians  ;  these  the 
spectacles,  holy,  eternal,  free,  on  which  their  eyes  may 
feast."*  Then,  drawing  a  striking  contrast  between 
these  sublime  enjoyments  and  the  amusements  of  the 
circus,  Tertullian  describes  the  Christian  himself  as 
the  athlete,  who,  rising  up  at  the  signal  from  God  and 
at  the  sound  of  the  angelic  trumpet,  goes  forth  to  win 
the  palm  of  martyrdom. t  "Wilt  thou  have  wrestlings, 
combats?  They  are  at  thy  command,  as  great  and 
as  many  as  thou  wilt.  Behold  sensuality  subdued  by 
chastity,  perfidy  vanquished  by  good  faith,  cruelty 
giving  place  to  mercy,  and  pride  cast  into  the  shade  by 
humility.  Such  are  the  victories  which  win  the  crown 
for  us.  Wilt  thou  have  blood  ?  Hast  thou  not  the 
blood  of  Christ  ?"J 

Yet  more  exalted  joys  await  the  Christian  in  the 
future.  Tertullian  lavishes  his  brilliant  and  powerful 
colours  on  the  canvas  in  the  representation  of  the  great 

*  "Quid  enim  jucundius,  quam  Dei  patris  et  Domini  recon- 
ciliatio,  quae  major  voluptas  quam  fastidium  ipsius  voluptatis, 
quam  seculi  totius  coniemptus,  quam  vita  sufficicns,  quod  calcas 
deos  nationum  ?"     ("  De  Spectac,"  xxix.) 

f  "  Ad  signum  Dei .  suscitare,  ad  tubam  angeli  erigere,  ad 
martyrii  palmas  gloriare."     (Ibid.) 

t  "Vis  et  pugillatus  et  luctatus  ?  praesto  sunt,  non  parva  sed 
multa.     Vis  autem  et  sanguinis  aliquid?  Habes  Christi."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    387 

day  of  final  judgment.  He  carries  his  readers  into  the 
midst  of  that  august  assembly  ;  he  himself  takes  part 
in  its  transactions ;  he  gives  his  deposition  as  a  witness 
before  the  bar  of  the  Almighty  ;  he  triumphs  over  his 
adversaries,  and  the  cry  of  satisfied  vengeance  blends 
with  his  hymn  of  praise  and  adoration.  The  day  of 
wrath,  which  is  to  abase  the  present  age  iu  the  dust 
while  it  exalts  the  glory  of  Christ,  is  the  day  for  which 
Tertullian  impatiently  waits.  From  these  powerful 
pages  of  his,  the  inspiration  of  the  Dies  Ircz  was  doubt- 
less first  derived. 

"  Oh,  what  a  spectacle,"  he  exclaims,  "  will  be  that 
gloriously  triumphant  return  of  Christ,  so  surely  pro- 
mised and  so  near !  What  will  be  the  exultation  of 
the  angels  !  what  the  glory  of  the  risen  saints  !  Their 
reign  will  begin,  and  a  new  Jerusalem  arise.  Then 
will  come  the  closing  scene — the  dawning  of  the  great 
day  of  judgment,  to  the  confusion  of  the  nations  who 
scoffed  at  it  and  looked  not  for  it ;  that  day  which  with 
one  devouring  flame  will  destroy  the  old  world  with  all 
its  works.*  Oh,  glorious  spectacle  !  How  I  shall 
admire,  how  I  shall  laugh,  how  will  my  joy  be  magnified 
in  seeing  so  many  kings  whom  the  apotheosis  of  men 
had  exalted  to  heaven,  cast  down  into  the  lowest  deeps 
with  Jupiter  and  his  witnesses ;  in  beholding  the 
judges,  who  have  persecuted  the  name  of  Christ,  de- 
voured by  a  more  terrific  fire  than  that  into  which 
they  cast  the  Christians.  What  a  spectacle  will  be  that 
of  the  philosophers  confounded  in  presence  of  their  dis- 
ciples, who  will  be  consumed  with  them,  because  they 
believed  on  their  word  that  God  cared  not  for  us,  and 

*  "  Ille  ultimus  judicii  dies,  ille  nationibus  insperatus,  ille 
derisus.''     ("  De  SpccUic,"  xxx.) 

f  "  Quid  videam,  ubi  gaudeam,  ubi  exsultem."     (Ibid.) 


388  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

that  the  soul  was  nothing,  or,  at  most,  was  reserved  for 
a  course  of  transmigration!  What  shall  we  say  of 
those  lying  poets  who  shall  be  dragged,  not  before 
Rhadamantos  or  Minos,  but  who  shall  stand  white 
with  terror  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Christ  in  whom 
they  believed  not  ?*  But  most  of  all  my  gaze  will  be 
riveted  upon  the  murderers  of  Christ.  '  Behold,'  I 
will  say  to  them,  '  the  carpenter's  son,  born  of  a  woman 
of  low  estate,  the  Sabbath-breaker,  the  Samaritan,  the 
demoniac  !t  Behold  Him  !  This  is  He  !  this  is  He 
whom  you  bought  of  Judas  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver, 
whom  you  smote  with  the  reed  and  spat  upon, 
whose  face  you  marred,  and  to  whom  you  gave  vinegar 
to  drink.'  .  .  .  And  in  order  that  I  may  see  such 
things,  and  feast  my  eyes  on  such  spectacles,  what 
need  shall  I  have  of  your  liberality,  praetors  or  consuls, 
quaestors,  or  priests  of  the  false  gods  ?  Faith  grants 
us  to  enjoy  them  even  now,  by  lively  anticipation  ;  but 
what  shall  the  reality  be  of  those  things  which  eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  ?  They  may  well  com- 
pensate, surely,  the  circus  and  both  amphitheatres  and 
all  the  spectacles  the  world  can  offer." 

This  joy  in  the  anticipation  of  the  doom  of  the 
enemies  of  Christ  is  altogether  alien  to  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel ;  that  mocking  laugh,  ringing  across  the 
abyss  which  opens  to  swallow  up  the  persecutors ;  this 
cruel  irony  over  the  most  fearful  woes, — all  these  fiery 
characters  on  the  page,  are  evidences  of  Tertullian's 
passionate  attachment  to  the  cause  of  Christianity, 
and  also  of  his  intense  hatred  of  everything  opposed  to 

*  "Adinopinati  Christi  tribunal  palpitantes."  ("DeSpectac./'xxx.) 
t  "  Hie  est  ille,  dicam,  fabri  aut  qiuestuarice  films,  Sabbati  de- 
structor, Samarites  et  demonium  habens."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.  389 

it.  The  last  judgment  is,  in  his  view,  the  carrying  out 
of  a  just  and  terrible  retaliation.  A  tooth  for  a  tooth, 
an  eye  for  an  eye,  torture  for  torture,  eternal  punish- 
ment for  the  persecutors  of  the  Church — such  was  his 
expectation  and  his  hope.  Feelings  likcthese  cannot 
be  quiescent.  Tertullian  anticipates  the  bitter  ven- 
geance to  be  taken  in  the  last  day  upon  his  enemies, 
by  mocking  and  trampling  on  them  in  the  time  present. 
Hence  the  implacable,  cutting,  sardonic  tone  of  his 
apologetic  writings.  He  does  not,  like  Justin  or 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  seek  to  trace  in  paganism  a 
dim  preparation  for  Christianity.  He  takes  the  axe  of 
John  the  Baptist,  and  lays  it  at  the  root  of  the  tree, 
with  the  full  intention  to  cut  it  down  and  consume 
it  utterly.  He  is  strongly  aggressive,  and  scorns 
all  oratorical  rules.  We  shall  see  presently  how  he 
demonstrated  the  truth  of  Christianity.  We  confine 
ourselves  now  to  noting  his  modes  of  argument,  so  far 
as  these  serve  to  bring  before  us  the  marked  indi- 
viduality of  the  man.  He  aims,  not  to  persuade,  but  to 
strike  down  and  to  confound.  His  great  Apology,  of 
which  we  have  the  first  rough  outline  in  his  treatise 
addressed  to  the  Nations,  and  which  he  corrected  and 
completed  on  the  occasion  of  the  persecution  under 
Septimus  Severus,  is  rather  a  proud  challenge  to 
the  pagan  world  than  the  pleading  of  a  cause.  We 
have  analysed  what  may  be  called  its  judicial  portion, 
that  which  deals  with  legal  discussions  before  pagan 
tribunals.  We  have  noted  its  sarcastic  and  angry 
tone.  Tertullian  is  never  satisfied  with  defending 
himself;  he  always  makes  a  raid  on  the  ground  of  his 
adversary,  boldly  attacking  his  beliefs  and  mercilessly 
ridiculing  them.  He  has  an  inexhaustible  fund  of 
mockery  for  the  great   Olympic  gods  in  whose  names 


390  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

the  Christians  are  sacrificed.  He  shows  the  pagan 
hell  peopled  with  parricides,  with  the  incestuous, 
seducers,  murderers,  thieves;  "in  fine,"  he  adds,  "by 
men  who  bear  the  likeness  of  some  one  of  your  gods."* 
He  delights  to  exhibit  the  shame  of  these  gods ;  he 
despoils  the  idol  of  its  ornaments,  and  shows  how  it 
was  first  carved  for  money  by  some  rude  workman,  and 
then  sold  in  the  market.  He  openly  scoffs  at  the  im- 
potence of  these  pretended  protectors  of  cities,  who 
suffer  them  to  be  pillaged  and  burnt,  unheeded  and 
unaided.  He  asks  where  Jupiter  was  hidden  when  his 
island  of  Crete  was  conquered,  and  what  Juno  was  doing 
when  Carthage  was  made  to  bow  under  a  foreign  yoke  ? 
He  draws  a  very  humorous  picture  of  the  priests  of 
Cybele  mutilating  themselves  frightfully  in  order  to 
obtain  the  recovery  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  when  that 
emperor  had  already  been  dead  for  several  days.  "  O 
tardy  despatches  !"  he  exclaims,  "  which  did  not  make 
Cybele  sooner  informed  of  this  event.  In  truth,  the 
Christians  may  well  laugh  in  their  turn  at  such  a 
god.t"  The  heroes  of  pagan  story  are  ridiculed  no 
less  than  the  Olympian  gods.  Tertullian  asks  what 
title  /Eneas  can  establish  to  his  exalted  rank,  except 
that  of  having  crept  away  like  a  deserter  from  the 
battle?  He  is  as  severe  upon  philosophy  as  upon 
idolatry.  After  a  detailed  enumeration  of  the  vices  of 
the  most  illustrious  sages  of  antiquity,  he  exclaims 
ironically,  "O  ancient  wisdom!  O  Roman  gravity!"! 
He  bitterly  satirises  the  prudence  of  those  freethinkers, 
who,  by  performing  certain  genuflexions  before  the  idols, 

*  "  Quicumque  similes  sunt  alicu  jus  dei  vestri."    ("  Apologia,"  xi.) 
t  "  O  nuntios  tardos."     (Ibid.,  xxv.) 

J  "  O  sapientiae  Atticae  !  O  Romansegravitatis  exemplum  !"  (Ibid., 
xxxix.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        39I 

purchased  the  right  to  laugh  at  them  in  private.  After 
describing  the  infamies  of  pagan  life,  he  speaks  thus 
boldly  of  those  who,  while  drawing  down  the  anger  of 
God  upon  the  earth  by  their  crimes,  impute  to  the 
Christians  the  scourges  by  which  the'land  is  desolated, 
"It  is  you  who  cumber  the  world,  and  are  the  cause 
of  all  the  public  calamities  and  woes."  If  such  an 
apology  was  wanting  in  the  gentleness  which  persuades, 
it  displayed  in  the  highest  degree  the  force  which 
subjugates,  and  sometimes  attracts,  even  noble  natures 
by  its  manly  vigour.  Those  whom  it  did  not  irritate, 
it  convinced,  and  more  than  one  soul  of  stoic  temper 
relished  the  acrimony  of  its  tone. 

A  short  time  after  his  Apology,  Tertullian  wrote 
one  of  his  best  treatises,  that  which  he  himself 
entitled,  "  The  Testimony  of  the  naturally  Christian 
Soul."  He  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  responds  to  the  truest  aspirations  of  our 
moral  being,  to  those,  that  is,  which  find  the  most 
purely  spontaneous  expression.  It  would  be  far  from 
the  truth  to  suppose  that  Tertullian,  in  this  treatise, 
took  at  all  the  same  ground  as  the  Alexandrine  apo- 
logists, or  attempted  any  sort  of  reconciliation  between 
revelation  and  philosophy.  On  the  contrary,  it  gives 
evidence  of  his  unvarying  hostility  to  all  the  ancient 
culture.  He  protests  against  pagan  science  in  the 
name  of  nature,  and  appeals  from  the  doctrines  of  the 
wise  men  to  the  human  soul,  as  he  describes  it  in  its 
rude  and  uncultured  state.  He  opposes  the  testimony 
of  the  public  square  to  that  of  the  school.  He  thus 
adheres  faithfully  to  his  own  views,  even  in  the 
employment  of  an  apologetic  method,  which,  fairly 
followed,  should  have  led  him  to  a  juster  judgment 
of   the  philosophy  of   Greece,    since    this    too  was    a 


392  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

revelation  of  one  of  those  immortal  needs  of  the  human 
soul,  to  which  he  made  his  appeal.  We  only  make 
passing  mention  of  this  treatise,  in  which  we  shall 
presently  trace  the  essential  idea  of  his  Apology. 

Of  the  strictly  theological  writings  of  this  period, 
we  mention  only  the  treatise,  "  De  Praescriptione," 
a  dangerous  weapon,  which  Tertullian  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  even  after  he 
had  deserted  their  party.  He  shows  himself,  in  this 
writing,  as  intolerant  of  heresy  as  he  had  elsewhere 
shown  himself  of  philosophy.  He  even  denies  the  right 
of  the  heretics  to  free  discussion  of  their  opinions, 
and  closes  their  mouths  at  once,  by  a  decision  allowing 
of  no  appeal.  This  treatise,  which  is  of  importance 
for  the  influence  it  exerted  on  the  formation  of  a 
positive  tradition,  is  a  new  proof  of  the  vehemence 
of  Tertullia/i's  character,  which  never  suffered  him  to 
think  with  moderation.  The  conclusion  of  what  may 
be  called  the  exposition  of  principles,  deserves  to  be 
quoted.  The  heretics,  he  holds,  must  be  without 
excuse  unless  Christ  has  given  the  most  flagrant 
contradiction  to  Himself;  and  to  make  apparent  the 
absurdity  and  irreverence  of  such  a  supposition,  he 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  Divine  Master  such  words 
of  retractation  as  could  alone  justify  heresy.  He  makes 
Him  thus  speak:  "I  promised  the  resurrection,  even 
the  resurrection  of  the  body;  but  I  have  found  that 
I  shall  not  be  able  to  accomplish  it.  I  declared  myself 
born  of  a  virgin  ;  but  that  has  since  seemed  to  me  a 
reproach.*  I  called  Him  my  Father  who  sends  the  sun 
and  the  rain  ;  but  I  have  found  a  better  father,  who 
has  adopted  me.    I  forbade  you  to  lend  an  ear  to  heresy ; 

*  "  Natum  me  ostenderam  ex  virgine,  sed  postea  turpe  visum 
est."     ("  De  Prescript/'  xliv.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.         393 

but  I  was  wrong."  *     Such  was  the  use  to  which  Ter- 
tullian  turned  his  powers  of  irony. 

If  he  occupied  himself  but  little  with  theology  during 
the  earlier  period  of  his  Christian  life,  he  nevertheless 
wrote  several  treatises  on  Christian  morality,  marked  by 
his  accustomed  earnestness  and  exaggeration  of  style, 
and  revealing  to  us  his  inner  feelings.  The  treatise 
on  Penitence,  while  it  contains  more  than  one  grave 
error,  and  arbitrarily  imposes  limitations  on  the  Divine 
mercy,  refusing  pardon  to  those  who  fall  repeatedly, 
shows  us  Tertullian's  deep  horror  of  evil,  which  he 
tracks  under  its  several  subtle  disguises  and  into  those 
most  secret  hiding-places,  where  it  exists  as  yet  only  as 
an  unlawful  thought  and  desire.  These  pages  seem  to 
be  themselves  wet  with  the  tears  of  true  repentance. 
"  Penitence  is  our  life,  for  it  is  the  great  antidote  of 
death.  O  sinner,  such  a  one  as  I  am,  or  rather  less 
guilty  than  I,  who  am  myself  the  chief  of  sinners, 
embrace  repentance,  cling  to  it  as  the  shipwrecked 
man  clings  to  the  plank  which  saves  him.  It  will 
raise  thee  above  those  floods  of  sin  which  engulf  thee, 
and  will  bring  thee  into  the  port  of  Divine  mercy. 
Seize  the  opportunity  of  an  unhoped-for  blessedness."  t 
Tertullian  initiates  us  into  his  own  inward  struggles 
in  the  following  passage:  "Our  deadly  foe  slumbers 
not  in  his  hatred.  Never  does  he  display  it  more 
actively  than  when  a  man  is  about  to  escape  him 
altogether.  His  malice  is  fanned  to  a  flame  by  that 
which  had  seemed  to  quench  it.  He  cannot  but 
grieve  and  groan  to  see  so  many  sins  pardoned,  so 
many  works  of  death  destroyed,    so   many  grounds  of 

*  "  Sed  erravi."     ("  De  Prescript.,"  xliv.) 

+  Ita  invade,  ita  amplexare,  ut  naufragus  alicujus  tabula?  fidem." 
("  De  Pcenit./'  iv.) 

26 


394  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

accusation  annulled.  He  quivers  with  rage  to  think 
that  this  sinner,  now  become  a  servant  of  Christ,  will 
judge  him  and  his  angels.  Therefore  he  watches,  at- 
tacks, harasses  him,  striving  to  defile  his  soul  by  some 
fleshly  concupiscence,  to  enslave  it  by  the  fetters 
of  the  age,  to  overthrow  his  faith  by  the  fear  of  some 
earthly  power,  or  to  lead  him  astray  into  the  paths  of 
heresy.  He  besets  him  all  around  with  snares  and 
pitfalls."  * 

We  have  already  indicated  what  would  be  the 
stongest  temptation  to  a  man  of  the  temper  of  Ter- 
tullian — the  indulgence  of  passion,  constant  irritation, 
and  anger.  His  writing  on  Patience  denotes  a  sincere 
desire  to  guard  against  a  vehemence  which  he  was 
never  able  wholly  to  subdue.  "  I  am  like  the  sick,"  he 
says,  "  who,  just  because  they  are  deprived  of  health, 
are  always  dwelling  on  its  blessings.  God  grant  that 
the  shame  of  not  practising  that  which  I  commend  to 
others,  may  lead  me  to  its  realisation. "t  After  thus 
humbling  himself,  Tertullian  utters  the  most  splendid 
eulogium  on  Patience,  and  concludes  by  thus  tracing 
the  portrait  of  this  grace  in  highly  poetical  lines  : 
"  Her  face,"  he  says,  "  is  tranquil  and  serene,  her 
forehead  pure,  and  unfurrowed  by  one  line  of  sadness 
or  anger ;  X  her  eyebrows  are  slightly  raised  in  token 
of  joy ;  she  droops  her  eyes,  not  in  sorrow  but  in 
humility  ;  a  dignified  silence  seals  her  lips,  the  hue  of 
her  countenance  is  that  of  innocence  and  security. 
She  defies  the    devil,   and  he   trembles  at  her  smile. 


*  "  Observat  oppugnat,  obsidet."     ("  De  Pcenit.,"  vii.) 

t  "  Vice  languentium,  qui  cum  vacenit  a  sanitate,  de  bonis  ejus 

tacere  non  norunt."     ("  De  Patientia.,"  i.) 

X  "  Vultus  illi  tranquillus  et  placidus,  frons  pura,  nulla  maeroris 

aut  irae  rugositate  contracta."     (Ibid.,  xv.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        395 

White  is  the  robe  which  falls  across  her  breast  and 
enwraps  her  form  ;  it  neither  heaves  nor  throbs 
tumultuously.  She  is  seated  on  the  throne  of  a  mind 
full  of  quietness  and  peace,  which  is  ruffled  by  no 
storm,  shadowed  by  no  cloud,  which  is  like  the  calm 
and  open  heaven  of  blue,  which  Elias  saw  in  his  third 
vision."  * 

Strange  paradox  !  Tertullian,  even  while  thus  ex- 
tolling the  beauty  of  Patience,  indulges  in  reflections 
of  an  entirely  opposite  tendency  :  he  regards  Patience 
as  a  sort  of  refined  vengeance  visiting  the  enemies 
of  the  Church.  "  Every  offence,  whether  in  words 
or  deeds,  will  break  against  Patience  like  an  arrow 
darted  at  a  wall  of  solid  rock.  It  blunts  itself  to  no 
purpose,  and  often  rebounding  from  the  resisting  me- 
dium, returns  upon  the  aggressor  himself  and  wounds 
him.  He  who  offends  thee  does  it  with  intent  to 
grieve  ;  the  result  of  his  offence  he  designs  to  be  thy 
distress  of  mind.  If  thou  art  not  troubled  by  him  he 
has  lost  his  pains,  and  is  himself  thereby  distressed. 
Thou  art  therefore  not  only  thyself  sheltered  from 
harm,  which  might  be  in  itself  sufficient,  but  thou  hast 
the  further  joy  of  seeing  thine  adversary  prostrated  in 
his  attempt,  and  his  vexation  is  thy  revenge.  Such 
is  the  virtue  and  the  reward  of  Patience."  t  This 
singular  passage  fully  supports  Tertullian  in  his  self- 
condemnation  ;  it  shows  that  he  was  even  more  deeply 
penetrated,  than  he  was  himself  aware,  with  a  spirit 
opposed  to  Christian  gentleness  and  patience. 


*  "  Qui  non  turbine  glomcratur,  non  nubilo  livct,  scd  est  tcncrce 
serenitatis,  apertus  et  simplex."     ("  De  Patientia,"  xv.) 

t  "  Tunc  tu  non  modo  illa?sus  abis,  sed  insuper  adversarii  tui  et 
frustratione  oblectatus  et  dolore  defensus.  Hacc  est  patientia?, 
utilitas,  et  voluptas."     (Ibid.,  viii.) 


396  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Any  man  knowing,  as  he  did,  what  true  repentance 
meant,  and  waging  earnest  and  steady  warfare  with 
himself,  could  not  but  be  conscious  of  a  constant  need 
for  prayer.  His  treatise  on  Prayer,  which,  like  that  of 
several  other  Fathers,  is  a  paraphrase  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  contains,  beside  valuable  details  as  to  the 
practices  of  the  Church  in  the  second  century,  some 
noble  sayings  and  true  cries  of  the  soul  after  God. 
"  How  daring  is  it,"  he  exclaims,  "  to  pass  one  day 
without  praying  !  Prayer  is  the  bulwark  of  faith  ;  it 
is  our  shield  and  our  arrow  to  be  used  against  our  ever- 
watchful  foe.  Let  us  then  never  go  forth  unarmed  ; 
let  us,  clothed  in  the  armour  of  prayer,  defend  the 
standard  of  our  Captain,  and  await  in  prayer  the 
trump  of  the  angel."  * 

There  are  four  other  writings  of  Tertullian  belonging 
to  this  period  :  his  treatise  on  Prayer ;  his  two  letters 
to  his  wife,  already  mentioned  ;  his  treatise  on  Idolatry, 
characterised  by  the  excessive  severity  which  led  him 
to  condemn  not  only  all  contact  with  paganism,  but 
also  with  society  outside  the  Church ;  and  finally, 
his  treatise  on  Baptism,  in  which  we  find  a  singular 
combination  of  spirituality  and  sacramental  materi- 
alism ;  for  while  he  urges  the  postponement  of  the 
baptism  of  children,  he  holds  that  some  magical  virtue 
is  present  in  the  baptismal  water.  We  need  not  be 
astonished  at  these  paradoxes ;  strong  contradictions 
and  abrupt  antitheses  form  a  part  of  the  very  nature 
of  the  man.t 


*  "  Ouam  autem  temerarium  est  diem  sine  oratione  transigere." 
("  De  Oratione,"  x.) 

+  "  Oratio  mums  est  fidei,  anna  et  tela  nostra.  Sub  armis 
orationis  signum  nostris  imperatoris  custodiamus,  tubam  angeli 
expectemus  orantes."     (Ibid.,  xxiv.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE   CHURCH.          397 

We  approach  now  the  decisive  crisis  in  his  life.  It 
was  but  the  culmination  of  moral  influences,  long  at 
work — his  excessive  rigour,  his  pursuit  of  the  ideal, 
his  chimerical  and  ardent  spirit,  his  keen  consciousness 
of  the  imperfections  of  the  Church.  The  Montanist 
sect  could  not  fail  to  be  attractive  in  its  exalted  piety 
to  such  a  mind  as  Tertullian's.  The  stern  severity  of 
its  discipline,  the  union  of  a  realism  coloured  with  the 
warmest  hues  of  the  •  oriental  imagination,  with  an 
unbending  spirit  of  independence, — these  peculiar  cha- 
racteristics of  Montanism  answered  so  exactly  to  the 
aspirations  of  Tertullian,  that  he  inevitably  became 
one  of  its  apostles.  Had  Montanism  not  been  already 
in  existence,  he  would  have  been  its  founder.  It  is 
certain  that  a  journey  taken  by  him  to  Rome,  led  him 
to  make  a  decision,  of  the  importance  of  which  he 
could  not  be  unaware,  since  it  placed  him  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  Church,  and  launched  him  on  a  perilous 
sea  of  opposition.  St.  Jerome  attributes  his  change  of 
opinion  to  discussions  in  which  he  is  supposed  to  have 
engaged  with  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  He 
accuses  Tertullian  of  yielding  to  a  feeling  of  envy, 
while  he  nevertheless  fully  admits  that  he  had  received 
provocation  from  his  opponents.*  From  these  rather 
vague  expressions,  wre  conclude  that  the  priest  of  the 
Church  of  Carthage  entered  into  a  controversy  with 
the  heads  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  that  the 
discussion  was  carried  on  on  both  sides  with  too  much 
vehemence  and  passion. 

In    order   rightly  to  understand  the  subject-matter 

*  "  Hie  cum  usque  ad  mediam  astatem  presbyter  Ecclesiae  per- 
mansisset  invidia  nostra  et  contumeliis,  clericorum  Romanae 
Ecclesiie  ad  Montani  dogma  delapsus."  (Hieron.,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  liii.) 


398      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  the  dispute,  we  need  only  realise  to  ourselves  the 
circumstances  in  which  the  Church  of  Rome  was  at 
this  time  placed.  Now,  the  recent  discovery  of  the 
"  History  of  Heresies,"  ascribed  to  St.  Hippolytus,  and 
which  belongs  undoubtedly  to  this  period,  enables  us 
to  form  a  very  exact  idea  of  the  situation  of  the 
Roman  Church  at  the  moment.  This  writing, — a 
remarkable  one  in  many  respects, — informs  us  that  it 
was  just  at  this  period,  under  the  pontificate  of  Zephy- 
rinus,  that  the  party  led  by  Callisthus,  and  seeking  to 
assure  the  triumph  of  the  hierarchy,  entered  into 
alliance  with  a  little  group  of  heretics  lately  arrived 
from  the  East,  whom  it  treated  with  the  utmost  con- 
sideration, in  order  to  ensure  their  support  against  the 
representatives  of  the  ancient  austere  discipline  of  the 
Church.  The  reason  of  this  coalition  is  easily  to  be 
understood.  These  heretics,  among  whom  were  Sabel- 
lius,  Cleomenes,  and  Noetus,  were  agreed  in  denying 
the  distinction  of  the  Divine  persons  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity.  They  had  found  their  most  zealous 
opponents  among  the  Montanists,  who  were  strongly 
attached  to  Trinitarian  views.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Montanists  were,  by  their  ascetic  severity  and 
their  determined  assertion  of  the  universal  priesthood- 
— which  went  so  far  as  to  do  away  with  a  special 
priesthood  altogether — the  sworn  foes  of  the  hierar- 
chical faction.  Thus  the  party  of  Callisthus  and 
the  party  of  the  Oriental  heretics,  found  themselves 
drawn  and  bound  together  by  a  common  hatred  of 
Montanism. 

Such  were  the  conditions  under  which  Tertullian 
arrived  in  Rome,  and  at  once  entered  into  a  hot  dis- 
cussion with  the  clergy  of  that  important  Church. 
What  subject   more   likely  to  be  the  theme  of  such   a 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        399 

discussion  than  the  questions  raised  by  the  critical 
conjuncture  which,  on  the  authority  of  St.  Hippolytus, 
we  have  just  described  ?  This  supposition  is  confirmed 
in  the  most  positive  manner  by  the  testimony  of 
Tertullian  himself.  In  fact,  he  tells  us  that  he  went 
into  Italy,  fully  prepared  for  the  conflict,  and  well 
informed  of  the  position  of  the  various  parties.  A 
short  time  before  starting  on  his  journey,  he  had  met 
in  Carthage  a  heretic,  named  Praxeas,  who  had  come 
from  Rome.  He  professed  the  same  views  as  Sabellius 
and  Noetus,  and  had  openly  opposed  Montanism  ;  he 
had  even  obtained  from  Bishop  Victor,  the  successor 
of  Zephyrinus,  the  condemnation  of  that  sect,  which 
had  been  at  first  treated  with  consideration.*  Ter- 
tullian argued  with  him,  discussed  his  opinions,  refuted 
them,  and  led  him  to  retract.  It  was  soon  after  this 
triumph  that  he  repaired  to  Rome,t  already  well  dis- 
posed towards  the  Montanists,  having  learned,  in  his 
contest  with  Praxeas,  to  regard  them  as  the  champions 
of  orthodoxy.  At  Rome  he  found  in  full  activity  all 
the  errors  with  which  he  had  successfully  contended 
at  Carthage  ;  indeed,  here  they  were  sustained  by  the 
patronage  of  some  of  the  high  dignitaries  of  the  Church. 
He  substantiates  the  report  of  a  coalition  entered  into 
between  the  hierarchical  and  heretical  parties,  for  the 
suppression  of  Montanist  views.  It  was  natural,  there- 
fore, that  he  should  regard  the  Montanists  as  the  allies 
from  whom  he  must  seek  support.  His  discussions 
with  the  Roman  clergy  intensified  his  feelings  of  irrita- 
tion, and  he  threw  himself,  with  all  the  vehemence  of 
his  nature,  into  the  party  whose   views  of  dogma  and 

*  "  Episcopum  Romanum  coegit  litteras  pacis  revocare."  ("  Adv. 
Prax.,"  1.) 

t  Lenain  de  Tillemont  places  the  journey  of  Tertullian  under 
Zephyrinus.     (  "  Memoires,"  III.  237] 


400  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Church  government  were  most  strongly  opposed  to  the 
hated  tendencies  of  the  hierarchy,  and  which  was 
already  engaged  in  earnest  conflict  with  a  coalition 
which  seemed  to  Tertullian  odious  and  impious.  He 
was  first  made  a  Montanist  by  his  strong  repugnance 
to  those  who  repudiated  Montanism.  He  was  not  a 
man  to  rest  content,  like  Origen  and  St.  Hippolytus, 
with  a  simple  protest  against  them  ;  to  his  protest 
he  added  the  emphasis  of  an  open  separation  of  him- 
self from  the  Church,  and,  with  all  his  genius  and 
all  his  eloquence,  he  passed  over  into  the  camp  of 
schism.* 

Tertullian's  change  of  opinion  is  not  manifested  in 
a  very  marked  manner  in  his  writings.  He  continues 
to  occupy  himself  with  the  same  questions,  and  treats 
them  in  the  same  style,  and,  save  for  a  slight  increase 
of  exaggeration,  and  some  rare  allusions  to  the  favourite 
ideas  of  Montanism,  he  exhibits,  as  a  writer,  the  same 
excellencies  and  defects  as  before.  He  was,  in  truth, 
in  spirit  a  Montanist,  before  he  became  one  avowedly 
and  formally.  There  was  no  sudden  change  in  him, 
but  only  the  development  of  a  tendency  previously 
existing.  His  sentiments  remain  the  same :  they  are 
only  raised,  as  it  were,  into  a  higher  key ;  they  break 
through  all  restraint,  and   reveal   themselves  in  their 

*  We  hope  that  this  explanation  of  Tertullian's  sudden  change 
will  not  strike  the  reader  as  forced  It  is  based  upon  a  very  simple 
process  of  deduction.  It  is  certain  that  he  was  in  Rome  at  the 
commencement  of  the  third  century,  under  Zephyrinus.  It  is 
equally  certain  that  the  heretical  and  anti-Montanist  tendency  of 
Praxeas,  against  which  he  so  earnestly  laboured,  acquired  for  a  time 
a  great  ascendency  over  the  clergy  of  Rome,  through  the  intrigues 
of  Callisthus,  and  that  this  was  just  at  the  period  of  Tertullians 
visit  to  that  city.  It  seems  to  us  very  obvious  to  see  in  these 
circumstances  the  cause  of  the  violent  controversy  between  Ter- 
tullian and  the  clergy  of  Rome  mentioned  by  St.  Jerome,  and  of 
Tertullian's  change  of  opinions, 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        40I 

full  force.  Schismatic  as  he  is,  Tertullian  still  continues 
to  combat  heresy  with  even  redoubled  vehemence. 
His  challenges  to  paganism  are  increasingly  bold  and 
menacing,  and  his  austerity  as  a  moralist  reaches  the 
point  of  hardness. 

In  this  second  period  of  his  career  we  have  only  one 
apologetic  writing  from  his  pen — the  letter  to  the  Pro- 
consul Scapula,  which  is  assigned  to  the  year  211.  A 
haughty  and  defiant  tone  rings  through  these  lofty 
pages,  which  conclude  with  a  bold  denunciation  of  the 
judgments  of  God  against  the  persecutors.  That  which 
we  most  admire  in  the  letter,  is  the  explicit  recogni- 
tion of  the  rights  of  conscience.  This  man,  who  can 
scarcely  brook  any  discussion  with  a  heretic,  repudiates 
coercion  in  matters  of  religion  with  as  much  distinct- 
ness as  we  in  our  day,  and  with  that  eloquence  which  is 
his  speciality.  It  is  a  singular  blending  of  dogmatic 
intolerance  with  moral  toleration,  which  can  neverthe- 
less be  explained  by  his  hatred  of  everything  resem- 
bling philosophic  culture,  and  his  confidence  in  the 
instincts  of  the  human  soul,  however  rude  and  ignorant. 
He  does  not  desire  liberty  of  thought,  because  that 
would  involve  the  recognition  of  the  claims  of  science, 
which  he  distrusts ;  but  he  does  desire  liberty  of  con- 
science, because  the  instinct  of  the  divine  appears  to 
him  so  much  the  more  sure,  the  more  it  is  left  to  work 
directly  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  This  is  the  solu- 
tion of  a  contradiction  which  at  first  excites  surprise. 

If  Tertullian,  as  a  Montanist,  concerned  himself 
comparatively  little  with  pleading  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity before  the  bar  of  pagan  society,  he  took  peculiar 
pains  to  make  broad  and  deep  the  gulf  between  that 
society  and  the  Church.  His  treatise  on  the  Crown  of 
the  Soldier  supports  his  treatise  on  Idolatry,  in  abso- 


402  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

lutely  interdicting  military  service  for  the  Christian. 
In  short,  that  which  he  desires  is  not  only  to  separate 
himself  from  the  world  in  all  the  usages  of  life,  but  to 
stir  up  the  world's  hatred,  so  as  at  length  to  fall  under 
its  blows.  No  rupture  less  than  this  can  suffice  him  ; 
and  he  preaches  martyrdom  as  the  highest  realisation 
of  the  Christian's  calling.  Not  satisfied  with  combat- 
ing, in  his  treatise  against  the  Scorpion-Gnostics,  the 
heretics  who  call  in  question  the  lawfulness  of  a 
martyr's  death,  and  cover  their  cowardice  with  foolish 
sophisms,  he  denies  the  right  of  escaping  from  death, 
even  when  it  can  be  done  without  compromise  ;  and  he 
writes  pages  of  burning  indignation  against  those  who 
flee  in  the  time  of  persecution,  failing  to  perceive  that 
however  subtle  his  interpretation,  he  is  placing  himself 
in  direct  contradiction  with  the  precept  and  example  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

This  same  principle  of  extravagant  austerity  ani- 
mates all  his  moral  treatises  of  this  period.  In  his  two 
books  on  the  Adornment  of  Women,  he  rigidly  con- 
demns all  luxury,  and  exacts  from  Christian  women  the 
most  severe  simplicity.  The  opening  page  of  this 
treatise  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  his  writings. 
He  desires  that  the  woman  should  be  as  a  penitent  and 
weeping  Eve,  wearing  the  veil  of  mourning,  and  putting 
iar  away  from  her  all  vain  adornment."*  "  O  woman  ! " 
he  adds,  "  it  has  been  told  thee  that  thou  shouldst 
bear  children  in  sorrow  and  anguish,  and  that  thou 
shouldst  be  subject  to  thine  husband.  Dost  thou  not 
know  that  thou  art  ever  the  same  Eve  ?  The  sentence 
of  God  weighs  ever  on  thy  sex  ;  thou  art  then  still 
under  His  chastening  stroke.  Thou  didst  give  place  to 
the    devil  among    us;    thou    didst  break   through   the 

*  "  Evam lugentem  et  poenitentem."  ("  De  Cultu  Feminarum,"  i.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        403 

barrier  which  guarded  the  forbidden  tree ;  thou  wast 
the  first  to  desert  the  divine  law  ;  and  because  of  the 
death  thou  hast  deserved,  the  Son  of  God  must  needs 
die.  And  wouldst  thou  have  other  adornment  than 
robes  of  skins  ?  Dost  thou  think  that  if,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  world,  the  fleeces  of  Miletus  had 
been  already  shorn,  and  vestments  had  been  woven  of 
the  trees  of  India ;  if  Tyre  had  brought  forth  her 
purple,  and  Phrygia  her  broidered  veils,  and  Babylon 
her  tissues  ;  if  the  pearl  had  gleamed  and  the  ruby 
glowed ;  if  avarice  had  delved  into  the  earth  for  gold  ; 
if  the  mirror  had  been  even  then  permitted  to  tell  its 
flattering  falsehoods,—  dost  thou  think  that  Eve,  driven 
out  of  Paradise  as  one  already  dead,*  would  have  de- 
sired such  adornments  ?  All  these  ponderous  treasures 
heaped  on  a  woman  already  condemned  and  dead,  are 
but  funereal  pomp."t 

The  treatise  on  the  Duty  of  Virgins  to  be  Veiled, 
urges  the  same  considerations  in  a  more  subtle  form. 
The  ascetic  tendency  becomes  more  and  more  marked  ; 
it  is  especially  manifest  in  Tertullian's  two  writings  on 
Chastity  and  Monogamy.  In  the  former,  he  degrades 
marriage  almost  to  the  level  of  adultery,  and  in  the 
latter,  faithful  to  the  principles  of  Montanism,  he 
absolutely  prohibits  second  marriages.  The  treatise  on 
Modesty  gives,  in  a  form  of  greatly  augmented  rigour, 
the  same  directions  which  he  had  laid  down  in  his 
treatise  on  Penitence.  According  to  this  writing,  no 
pardon  or  return  is  possible  for  those  who,  after  baptism, 
have  fallen  into  so  grave  a  sin  as  adultery.  This 
Tertullian  regards  as  apostasy  for  self-gratification,  a 

*  "Jam  mortua,  opinor."     ("De  Cultu  Feminarum,"  I.) 
t  "  ldeo  omnia  ista  damnatas  et  mortuao  mulieris  impedimenta 
sunt,  quasi  ad  pompam  funeris  constituta."     (Ibid.) 


404  THE    EARLY    YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

crime  of  far  deeper  dye  than  apostasy  from  fear  of 
torture.  "What!"  he  passionately  exclaims,  "will 
you  re-admit  denied  rather  than  bleeding  bodies  ?* 
Which  is  the  more  deserving  of  pity  in  his  penitence — 
the  man  whose  flesh  has  been  polluted,  or  he  whose 
flesh  has  been  torn  by  tortures  ?  The  one  denies  Christ 
in  spite  of  himself,  the  other  yields  to  debauch  of  his 
own  free  will.  Passion  obe}s  nothing  but  its  own 
seducing  voice,  and  none  can  pretend  they  are  under 
constraint  when  self-gratification  is  concerned. t  On 
the  contrary,  what  varieties  of  anguish  and  torture  are 
brought  to  bear  to  compel  apostasy  before  the  tribunals ! 
Wrho  has  the  more  foully  denied  Christ  —  he  who 
deserts  Him  in  the  hour  of  uttermost  agony,  or  he  who 
forsakes  Him  at  the  call  of  lust  ?  he  who  suffers  bitterly 
in  turning  away  from  Him,  or  he  who  gives  Him  up  in 
mere  lightness  ?  "%  In  his  treatise  on  Fasting,  Ter- 
tullian  defends  the  rigorous  practices  of  Montanism, 
and  maintains,  in  opposition  to  the  Church  of  his  time, 
the  compulsory  character  of  fasting  under  the  new 
covenant — a  fresh  proof  of  the  influence  he  still  con- 
tinued to  exert  even  as  a  heretic,  for  the  Church 
ultimately  came  round  to  his  view.  We  have  yet' to 
notice  one  singular  writing  of  his — "  De  Pallio."  He 
had  been  ridiculed  for  exchanging  the  toga  for  the 
pallium  of  the  old  Greek  philosophers ;  he  justifies 
himself  by  showing  that  the  philosopher's  mantle  is 
the  symbol  of  austerity.  He  who  has  the  right  to  wear 
it  may  say  to  the  brilliant  but  corrupt  society  by  which 

*  "  Contaminata  potius  corpora  revocabis,  quam  cruenta." 
("  De  Pudicitia,"  xxii.) 

t  "  Nulla  ad  libidinem  vis  est,  nisi  ipsa,  nescit  quodlibet  cogi." 
(Ibid.) 

X  "  Quis  magis  negavit,  qui  Christum  vexatus  an  qui  delectatus 
amisit."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        405 

he  is  surrounded  :  "  I  desire  nothing  of  thee.  I  owe 
nothing  either  to  the  forum,  or  to  the  field  of  Mars,  or 
to  the  senate ;  I  occupy  no  office  ;  I  frequent  no 
audience  of  praetors.  ...  I  am  no  soldier,  judge,  or 
governor  ;  I  have  withdrawn  from  the  people."*  Such 
was,  in  truth,  Christian  life,  according  to  Tertullian's 
conception  of  it;  a  life  altogether  separated  from  pagan 
society,  which  it  condemns  by  the  mere  strangeness 
and  sadness  of  its  aspect.  That  which  made  him  take 
pleasure  in  the  pallium  was  its  singularity  and  sombre 
colour :  it  was  a  silent  censure  on  all  the  infamy 
and  vice,  which  the  rich  Roman  toga  covered  with 
its  folds. 

Although  he  had  adopted  the  garb  of  the  Greek 
philosophers,  he  was  not  on  that  account  any  the  more 
tolerant  of  their  views.  His  polemics  indicate,  on  the 
contrary,  a  growing  violence  and  asperity  with  regard 
to  them.  He  encountered  among  his  adversaries  a 
painter  named  Hermogenes,  whom  he  ridiculed  un- 
sparingly as  an  artist,  before  refuting  him  as  a  heretic. 
He  made  merciless  use  of  his  vein  of  satire  at  the 
expense  of  this  unfortunate  individual.  Hermogenes 
believed  in  a  material  element,  eternal,  confused, 
chaotic,  tumultuous.  "In  this  element,"  says  Ter- 
tullian,  "  he  represented  himself."  To  see  how  far 
passion  could  lead  him,  we  have  only  to  read  the  first 
chapter  of  his  treatise  against  Marcion.  He  com- 
mences by  painting  in  repulsive  colours  Pontus,  the 
fatherland  of  the  heretic,  "  a  country  inhabited  by  bold 
and  bloody  barbarians,  where  the  sky  is  iron,  the  light 
always  dim,  the  sky  always  cloudy,  the  wind  always 
boisterous,    winter  eternal,    the   earth   inert    and    cold, 

*  "  Non  judico,  non  milito,  non  regno,  sccessi  de  populo."  ("De 
Pallio,"  v.) 


406  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

bringing  forth  nothing  but  monsters."*  "  Of  all  these 
monsters,  Marcion  is  the  greatest. t  The  worst  thing 
that  can  be  said,  even  of  this  barbarous  country,  is  that 
it  should  have  produced  such  a  man — a  man  more 
savage  than  the  Scythian,  more  inhuman  than  the 
Massagete,  fiercer  than  the  whirlwind,  more  gloomy 
than  the  thunder-cloud,  colder  than  winter,  more  rugged 
than  Caucasus.  This  is  the  true  Prometheus,  belching 
forth  blasphemy  against  Almighty  God.  He  is  more 
destructive  than  the  beasts  of  those  wild  countries. 
What  devouring  creature  of  Pontus  can  be  compared  to 
him  who  preys  upon  our  Gospels  ?J  Diogenes'  dog- 
sought  for  a  man  with  a  lantern  in  the  full  sunshine. 
Marcion,  after  extinguishing  the  torch  of  faith,  lost 
the  God  whom  he  had  found."  We  have  vainly 
endeavoured  to  convey  the  vituperative  force  of  this 
passage,  which  shows  to  what  a  height  of  hateful 
passion  Tertullian  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  when 
speaking  of  his  adversaries.  That  he  should  have  done 
so,  is  the  more  surprising,  because  he  had  no  need  to 
avail  himself  of  such  methods  to  cover  feebleness  of 
argument ;  on  the  contrary,  his  dialectic  skill  is  great.: 
he  is  fertile  in  resources,  cutting,  telling,  ironical  ; 
passing  from  subtle  argumentation  to  exposition  full  of 
breadth  and  power,  and  rising  often  to  the  highest 
eloquence.  He  understood  perfectly  the  art  of  giving 
point  to  an  argument  by  a  sudden  and  direct  turn. 
Thus,  after  describing  the  paradoxical  god  of  Marcion's 

*  "  Dies  nunquam  patens,  unus  aer,  nebula,  totus  annus 
hybernum,  omne  quod  flaveret  aquilo  est,  omnia  torpent,  omnia 
rigent."     (  "  Adv.  Marc.,"  i.) 

t  "  Nihil  tarn  barbarum  ac  triste  apud  Pontum  quam  quod  ille 
Marcion."     (Ibid.) 

X  "  Quis  tarn  comesor  mus  Ponticus,  quam  qui  evangelia 
corrosit?"     (Ibid.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    407 

doctrine,  who,  while  he  is  holy,  yet  will  not  uphold  by 
punishment  the  law  of  holiness,  he  exclaims  :  "  Listen, 
Oye  sinners,  and  you  who,  being- not  sinners  as  yet,  may 
become  so  in  the  future  :  a  more  complaisant  God  has 
been  discovered ;  a  God  who  is  not  to  be  offended  or 
angered;  who  avenges  not  his  law;  who  kindles  no 
flames  of  Gehenna  ;  who  suffers  no  gnashing  of  teeth 
in  outer  darkness — this  is  the  good  God  of  Marcion. 
He  does  indeed  forbid  evil,  but  only  as  a  form."* 
Again,  when  seeking  to  establish  the  reality  of  the 
incarnation,  and  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Redeemer, 
Tertullian  shows,  with  an  eloquence  equal  to  his  logic, 
that  all  Christianity  totters  to  its  fall  if  the  humanity 
of  Christ  is  a  semblance  only.  "  Paul,"  he  says,  "  was 
then  mistaken  wrhen  he  declared  that  he  would  know 
nothing  but  Christ  crucified ;  he  was  wrong  when 
speaking  of  His  burial  and  His  resurrection;  our  faith 
too  is  false,  and  all  our  hope  in  Christ  an  idle  vision. t 
O  miserable  heretic,  who  dost  excuse  the  murderers 
of  God  !  Jesus  Christ,  in  fact,  suffered  nothing  from 
them,  if  He  did  not  truly  suffer.  O  thou  who  dost 
undermine  the  honour  of  the  faith,  in  pity  leave  to  the 
world  its  one  hope  !  Of  him  who  shall  be  ashamed  of 
me,  saith  the  Master,  will  I  be  ashamed.  I  find  no 
other  ground  for  shame  and  contempt  than  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ,  and  in  not  blushing  for  these  I  shall 
show  a  holy  boldness,  a  blessed  folly.  The  Son  of  God 
is  born  of  a  woman  :  I  blush  not  for  this ;  there  is  no 
cause  to  blush.  The  Son  of  God  died  :  this  I  believe, 
because  it  is  foolishness   to  men.     He  was   buried,  and 

*"Audite,  peccatorcs,  dcus  mclior  inventus  est."  ("Adv. 
Marc.,"  i.  27.) 

f  "Phantasma  est  totum,  quod  spcramus  a  Christo."  ("De 
Carne  Christi/'  v.) 


403  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  third  day  He  rose  again  :  of  this  I  am  persuaded, 
because  it  is  impossible.*  .  .  .  Why  should  the 
Christ  have  lived  as  man  if  there  was  nothing  human 
in  Him  ?  ...  In  such  a  case  He  must  have  been 
false  before  God  ;  He  must  have  deceived  all  ages,  all 
senses — those  even  of  the  men  who  came  near  to  Him 
and  touched  Him.  We  can  then  speak  no  more  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  having  come  down  from  heaven,  but 
must  regard  Him  as  one  of  a  company  of  strolling 
players;  we  may  call  Him  no  more  the  God-Man,  but 
simply  a  new  magician ;  we  see  in  Him  not  the  priest 
of  our  salvation,  but  a  mere  theatrical  performer."? 

This  passage  is  in  the  best  style  of  Tertullian,  though 
not  free  from  that  tinge  of  irony  and  defiance  which 
always  characterises  him.  Many  more  examples  of  the 
same  kind  might  be  cited,  too  frequently  interspersed 
with  sophistical  arguments  or  biting  sarcasms,  but  also 
often  reaching  high  poetical  effect.  What  writer  ever 
spoke  with  more  sublimity  of  the  sorrowful  and  tragic 
character  of  death  ?  In  the  treatise  upon  Souls  we 
read  thus:  "  WTe  who  know  the  origin  of  man,  know 
with  certainty  that  death  proceeds  not  from  nature, 
but  from  sin  ;  hence,  though  there  are  many  forms  of 
dying,  there  is  not  one  which  can  be  called  gentle. 
The  essential  element  of  death,  however  easy  the  death 
may  be,  is  always  a  sharp  rupture.  How  can  we  call 
by  any  other  name  the  severance  between  soul  and 
body — those  two  substances  bound  together  from  the 

*  "  Natus  est  Dei  Films  ;  non  pudet  quia  pudendum  est,  et 
mortuus  est  Dei  Filius,  prorsus  credibile  est,  quia  ineptum  est,  et 
sepultus  resurrexerit,  certum  est,  quia  impossible."  ("De  Carne 
Christi,"  xv.) 

t  "  Ergo  jam  Christum  non  de  ccelo  deferre  debueras,  sed  de 
aliquo  circulatorio  coetu,  nee  Deum  praeter  hominem,  sed  magum 
hominem,  nee  salutis  pontiiicem,  sed  spectaculi  artificem."      (Ibid.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        409 

birth  like  twin  sisters  ?  Like  a  vessel  which,  having 
weathered  all  storms,  is  sailing  under  a  cloudless  sky 
over  glassy  waters,  gliding  along  under  the  soft  caresses 
of  the  summer  breeze  and  amid  the  songs  of  the 
sailors,  when  suddenly  it  springs  a  leak,  and  goes  down 
into  the  deep;"*  so  does  life  often  make  shipwreck 
in  the  midst  of  quiet  and  seeming  security.  Let  the 
ship  which  has  carried  the  soul  in  safety  be  sound  or 
unsound,  it  matters  not ;  the  moment  comes  when  the 
voyage  is  brought  to  a  sudden  end."t 

Let  us  now  pass  in  rapid  review  the  polemical  writ- 
ings of  Tertullian  during  this  period.  In  his  treatise 
against  Praxeas  he  maintained  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
while  clearly  subordinating  the  Son  to  the  Father;  his 
writing  against  Hermogenes  is  designed  to  refute  the 
idea  of  the  eternity  of  matter.  His  argument  with  the 
Jews  has  come  down  to  us  only  in  an  interpolated  form. 
In  his  other  treatises  he  aims  mainly  to  confute  the 
false  idealism  of  the  Gnostics.  We  shall  mention  first 
his  great  work  against  Marcion,  a  document  of  inesti- 
mable value  for  its  comprehensiveness  and  richness,  in 
which  we  shall  find  abundant  information  bearing  on 
the  history  of  heresies,  and  the  progress  of  Christian 
ideas  in  the  second  century.  The  treatises  on  the  Body 
of  Christ,  on  the  Resurrection  of  the  Body,  on  the 
Soul,  and  lastly,  that  directed  against  the  disciples  of 
Valentinus,  belong  to  the  same  category,  and  givG 
evidence  of  the  same  bent  of  mind. 

It  was  this  reaction  against  Gnosticism  which  gave  to 
all  his  theology  the  strongly-marked  realism  by  which 
it    is  distinguished.       Gnosticism    seeks    to   annihilate 

*  "  Nullis  depugnata  turbinibus,  adulante  flatu,  intestino  repente 
perculsu,  cum  tota  securitate  desidunt."     (  "  De  Anima,"  lii.) 
f  Ibid. 

27 


410      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

nature  ;  it  sets  a  curse  upon  the  material  world  as  the 
creation  of  an  evil  deity.  In  opposition  to  this  view, 
Tertullian  magnifies  the  beauty  and  harmony  of  the 
visible  universe.  So  long  as  his  realism  confines  itself 
within  these  limits,  it  is  true,  and  suggests  to  the  hard 
and  hot  polemic,  pictures  full  of  freshness  and  grace. 
He  writes  to  Marcion  :  "  A  little  flower  growing,  not  in 
the  fair  green  meadows,  but  on  a  thorn-bush  ;  a  little 
sea-shell,  not  that  from  which  the  purple  dye  is  drawn  ; 
the  wing,  I  say,  not  of  a  proud  peacock,  but  of  the 
humblest  of  birds, — all  these  speak  the  praise  of  their 
Maker.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  offer  thee  a  rose,  to  put 
to  silence  thy  words  of  scorn  for  the  Creator-God."* 
He  depicts  in  lofty  poetry  the  resurrection  of  nature, 
prophetic  of  our  own  resurrection.  "  The  day,"  he 
says,  "dies  in  the  night,  and  is  buried  in  darkness. t 
The  glory  of  the  world  is  covered  with  a  shroud ;  all 
is  turned  to  gloom.  Sadness,  silence,  horror,  reign  over 
the  universe.  .  .  .  Nature  mourns  in  sable  garments 
for  the  lest  light.  And  yet  the  light  revives  in  beauty, 
and  the  sun  goes  forth  like  a  bridegroom  in  strength 
throughout  the  whole  world,  triumphing  over  the  night 
of  death  ;  raised  from  its  sepulchre  of  darkness,  re- 
joicing in  its  own  goodly  heritage,  till  once  again  it 
sinks  in  night 4  Then  in  the  darkness  shine  forth  the 
stars,  which  the  day  had  veiled." 

Tertullian  gives  an  equally  happy  description  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  earth  in  spring,  when  the  dismantled 
trees    put  on  their   robe    of  renewed  foliage,   and   the 

*  u  Rosam  tibi  si  obtulero,  non  fastidies  creatorem."  ("  Adv. 
Marc,"  i.  13,  14.) 

f  "  Dies  moritur  in  noctem  ct  tenebris  usquequaquam  sepelitur. 
Funcstatur  mundi  honor."     ("  De  Resurrectione  Carnis,"  xii.) 

X  "Et  tamen  rursus  cum  suo  cultu,  cum  dote,  cum  sole,  eadem 
ct  integra  et  tota  universo  orbi  reviviscit."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.        4II 

flowers  unfold  their  brightness.  u  O  admirable  wisdom ! " 
he  exclaims,  "  which  preserves  for  us  that  of  which  it 
deprives  us,  which  despoils  only  to  enrich,  and  destroys 
only  to  increase ;  thus  we  derive  a  sort  of  usurious 
interest  from  that  which  slips  from  us,  and  gain  by  that 
which  we  lose.*  I  may  say  that  restitution  is  the  law 
of  the  universe ;  all  that  which  comes  to  an  end  com- 
mences anew,  and  it  finishes  only  to  recommence. 
Nothing  dies  but  that  it  may  live  again,  and  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  world  are  one  overwhelming  proof  of  the 
resurrection. t  God  had  inscribed  this  on  His  works 
before  he  wrote  it  in  His  book.  He  has  placed  thee  in 
the  school  of  nature,  and  has  given  Nature  to  be  thy 
prophetess,  that  thou  mightest  the  more  readily  believe 
in  the  sacred  oracles,  and  that,  as  His  disciple,  thou 
mightest  the  more  easily  receive  the  revelation,  from 
having  witnessed  its  fulfilment,  as  it  were,  in  all  the 
world  around  thee. "J 

Unhappily  Tertullian  is  not  satisfied  with  admiring 
nature,  and  discerning  in  the  material  universe  a 
radiation  of  the  higher  world  of  spirit.  He  makes 
the  two  completely  one,  and  regards  them  as  indis- 
solubly  united.  He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that 
both  God  and  the  soul  have  a  corporeal  being.  ||  He 
thus  becomes  a  very  materialist,  and  such  a  creed 
chimes  in  only  too  well  with  the  millennial  visions  of 
the  Montanists.  This  gross  realism  seems  at  first 
incompatible  with  the  extreme  asceticism  of  Tertullian, 

*  "  Revera  foenore  interitu  et  injuria  usura,  et  lucro  damno." 
("  De  Resur.  Carnis,"  xii.) 

f  ':  Totus  igitur  hie  ordo  revolubilis  rerum  tcstatio  est  resur- 
rectionis  mortuorum."     (Ibid.) 

X  "  Prysmisit  tibi  naturam  magistram,  discipulus  natura?,  quo 
statim  admittas  cum  audieris  quod  ubique  jam  viderLs^1     (Ibid.) 

||  "  Contra  Marc./'  i.  13  ;  "  De  Anima,"  iv.  5. 


412      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

for  if  the  corporeal  element  is  divine,  why  macerate  and 
destroy  the  body  ?  This  anomaly  is  explained,  if  it 
is  borne  in  mind  that  Gnosticism,  under  pretext  of 
despising  the  body,  had  gone  to  the  utmost  lengths  of 
license.  Anti-Gnosticism  makes  its  protest  at  once 
against  false  idealism,  and  against  the  moral  laxity 
of  its  adversaries ;  and  encountering  in  them  this 
flagrant  contradiction,  it  opposes  it  with  another 
paradox  equally  palpable.  On  the  same  principle  we 
must  account  for  Tertullian's  mistrust  of  all  speculation, 
which  leads  him  into  many  a  serious  error,  as  if  to 
show  that  an  undue  contempt  for  metaphysics  is  no 
less  fraught  with  danger  than  the  opposite  extreme. 
Happily  the  same  moral  sentiment  which  pervaded  the 
writings  of  all  the  Fathers  of  this  period,  is  obvious 
in  those  of  Tertullian.  '  He  believed  with  all  his  soul 
in  freedom  in  God  and  man,  and  he  thus  defended 
the  great  doctrine  of  Christian  spirituality  against  the 
crafty  sophists,  who  sought  to  crush  it  under  the 
weight  of  dualism. 

If  we  have  gained  any  just  impression  of  Tertullian 
in  the  various  aspects  of  his  character  and  genius,  we 
shall  subscribe  to  the  judgment  passed  upon  him  by 
Vincent  de  Lerins.  He  says :  "  Who  of  all  his  race 
was  ever  more  instructed  and  versed  in  things  human 
and  divine  ?  His  genius  was  at  once  so  powerful  and 
so  impetuous  that  he  never  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  any  doctrine,  but  he  brought  to  bear  on  it  all 
the  weight  of  his  reason,  or  pierced  through  all  its 
intricacies  with  his  penetrating  glance.*  Who  can 
sufficiently   extol   his  eloquence  ?     There   is   a  sort  of 

*  "  Ingenio  vero  nonne  tarn  gravi  ac  vehementi  excelluit,  ut  nihil 
sibi  pene  ad  expugnandum  proposuit,  quod  non  aut  acumine  irrup- 
erit,  autpondere.eliserit."  (Vincent  de  Lerins,  "  Commonitor./'  xxiv.) 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS   OF   THE    CHURCH.       413 

necessity  in  his  logic  which  forces  conviction  on  those 
whom  it  cannot  persuade ;  every  word  conveys  a 
striking  thought,  and  every  thought  is  a  triumph  over 
his  opponents.*  This  his  adversaries  know  well,  for 
he  has  come  down  like  a  thunderbolt,  crushing  the  dead 
mass  of  their  blasphemous  writings.  He  is  among  the 
Latins  what  Origen  is  among  the  Greeks — the  greatest 
of  all."t 

Vincent  de  Lerins,  in  placing  side  by  side  the  names 
of  Origen  and  Tertullian,  ventures  on  one  of  those 
bold  antitheses  in  which  the  ardent  African  himself 
delighted.  In  truth,  these  two  men  contrast  with  each 
other  in  every  feature.  On  the  one  hand,  we  have  a 
genius  large  and  calm  as  a  summer  sea,  serene  in  all 
its  depth  and  breadth  ;  on  the  other,  we  have  a  torrent 
foaming  and  eddying  between  narrow  banks.  On  the 
one  hand,  we  have  a  noble  and  lofty  toleration,  a 
sympathetic  nature,  everywhere  seeking  and  finding 
allies  for  its  cause,  quick  in  discerning  the  points  of 
contact  between  Christianity  and  all  that  had  gone 
before  it ;  on  the  other,  a  haughty  intolerance,  every- 
where seeking  and  finding  foes.  The  one  interposes 
between  hostile  parties ;  he  fulfils  the  part  of  a  firm 
and  conciliatory  mediator  between  ancient  philosophy 
and  the  Gospel  ;  the  other  will  hear  of  no  such  recon- 
ciliation ;  to  him  the  past  is  all  accursed.  The  former 
takes  pleasure  in  calm  discussions,  in  conferences  peace- 
fully conducted,  and  in  which  mutual  respect  is  shown ; 
the  latter  will  not  suffer  a  heretic  to  speak,  or  if  he 
deigns  to  argue  with  him,  he  opens  the  argument  with 

*  '■  Cujus  quot  penc  verba,  tot  sententia?  sunt  ;  quot  sensus  tot 
victoria."     (Vincent  dc  Lerins,  "  Common itor.,"  xxiv.) 

t  "  Nam  sicut  illc  apud  Grascos,  ita  hie  apud  Latinos  princeps." 
(Ibid.) 


4t4  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

outrage  and  invective.  Origen  and  Tertullian  both  re- 
sisted the  pretensions  of  the  hierarchy,  but  the  polemics 
of  Tertullian  were  as  full  of  vehemence  and  passion  as 
those  of  the  great  Alexandrine  of  gentleness  and  for- 
bearance. Both  fell  into  error  on  many  points,  but 
Origen  erred  on  the  side  of  too  abstract  speculation, 
Tertullian  on  the  side  of  too  absolute  materialism. 
The  eloquence  of  the  one  is  broad  and  transparent — a 
noble,  full,  majestic  river,  like  his  genius  ;  the  eloquence 
of  the  other  is  a  turbid  mountain  torrent.  Origen's 
words  flash  like  lightning ;  Tertullian's  roll  like  thunder. 
Origen  appeals  primarily  to  the  powers  of  intelligent 
thought,  he  speaks  as  a  Christian  philosopher  to 
philosophers ;  Tertullian  as  a  tribune  passionately  haran- 
guing the  throng  on  the  highway ;  he  is  the  ancient 
orator,  using  vehement  gestures,  vivid  images,  pathetic 
appeals.  In  both,  however,  we  find  perfect  sincerity, 
and  an  equal  love  to  Christ  and  to  truth.  Hence  their 
great  influence  in  the  Church.  Thus,  then,  two  heretics 
are  recognised  even  by  the  stern  guardian  of  tradition 
which  proscribed  them,  as  the  two  grandest  represen- 
tatives of  the  Church  of  the  third  century ;  and  the 
judgment  of  Vincent  de  Lerins  has  been  confirmed  by 
posterity. 

§  III.  Cyprian  and  Arnobius. 

It  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  influence  exercised,  in 
spite  of  his  Montanist  views,  by  Tertullian  after  his 
death,  that  the  chief  of  the  hierarchical  party  in 
Carthage  in  the  third  century  openly  declared  himself 
his  disciple.  Cyprian,  who  had  been  his  most  deter- 
mined opponent  on  ecclesiastical  questions,  used  to 
call  for  his  writings  every  day,  saying,  "  Give  me  the 


BOOK   II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.       415 

master."  In  the  apologist  and  theologian  he  forgot  the 
schismatic,  and  admiration  made  him  just.*  Through 
his  medium,  many  of  Tertullian's  ideas  were  to  become 
current  in  the  Church  ;  they  were  transmitted  through 
his  writings  in  a  softened  and  moderated  form,  and,  by 
a  singular  diversion  from  their  original  intention,  were 
made  to  contribute,  as  they  flowed  through  a  new 
channel,  to  the  strength  of  the  hierarchy. 

Thascius  Ccecilius  Cyprian  was  born  at  Carthage,  in 
high  station,  and  in  the  midst  of  paganism. t  His 
father  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  influence,  holding 
important  offices.  He  was  a  senator  in  the  capital  of 
proconsular  Africa.  The  young  patrician  saw  a  fine 
career  open  before  him,  and  his  brilliant  talents  well 
fitted  him  to  adorn  it.  He  possessed  keen  literary 
tastes,  and  while  studying  jurisprudence  with  a  view 
to  filling  subsequently  some  office  in  the  State,  he 
devoted  himself  assiduously  at  the  same  time  to  the 
cultivation  of  letters,  and,  while  still  very  young, 
became  a  professor  of  rhetoric. J  In  an  age  when  all 
free  expression  of  opinion  was  silenced,  literary  in- 
struction acquired  an  especial  importance  in  cities  like 
Carthage,  which  were  the  nurseries  of  civilisation  and 
centres  of  government.  Cyprian  was  surrounded  with 
too  many  temptations  in  his  high  position,  and  was 
too  feeble  in  moral   principle,  not  to  fall  into  the  vices 

*  "Nunquam  Cyprianum  absque  Tertulliani  lectione unum  diem 
praeteriisse,  ac  sibi  crebro  dicere  :  Da  Magistrum?  (St.  Jerome, 
"De  Viris  Illustr.,"  liii.) 

\  See.  for  the  life  of  Cyprian,  his  works,  and  his  biography,  by 
the  Deacon  Pontius  ;  St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.."  lxvii.  ; 
Lenain  de  Tillemont,  "  Memoires,"  IV.  45  ;  "  Vie  de  St.  Cyprian,'' 
Paris,  1747  (an  excellent  anonymous  monograph);  Bcehringer, 
I.  375  ;  Gregory  Nazianzen,  "  Oratio,"  xviii. 

J  "  Primum  gloriose  rhetoricam  docuit."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris 
Illustr.,"  lxvii.) 


4-l6  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

common  to  the  young  pagans  of  his  day.  He  has 
himself  recorded  his  youthful  excesses  with  unsparing 
frankness.  As  a  Christ:an,  he  passes  judgment  on  his 
life  as  a  pagan,  in  the  light  of  a  renewed  conscience, 
and  does  not  seek  by  any  excuse  or  palliative  to  cover 
the  past.  "When  I  still  lay,"  he  says,  "in  darkness 
and  deep  night,  tossed  about  on  the  stormy  billows  of 
the  age,  drifting  uncertainly  hither  and  thither,  un- 
knowing what  to  do  with  my  life,  a  stranger  to  truth 
and  light,*  I  regarded  as  incredible  and  impossible  that 
which  Divine  mercy  proffers  for  my  salvation,  I  mean 
that  regeneration,  that  washing  with  pure  water,  that 
putting  off  of  the  old  nature,  that  change  of  soul  and 
spirit  promised,  while  the  same  body  is  still  retained. 
.  .  How  shall  a  man  be  taught  sobriety  who  has 
accustomed  himself  to  sumptuous  living  every  day  ? 
How  shall  one  who  has  been  wont  to  walk  proudly  in 
garments  of  purple  and  gold,  content  himself  with  a 
simple,  plebeian  garb  ?  Can  one  who  has  aspired  to 
the  fasces,  be  made  willing  to  renounce  honours  and 
retire  into  obscurity  ?  The  passions  weave  invincible 
spells,  to  which  those  who  have  once  known  them  must 
always  yield.  Strong  drink  will  stimulate  their  desire 
after  it,  pride  will  inflate  and  anger  inflame  them;  cove- 
tousness  will  make  them  greedy,  cruelty  will  urge  them 
on  to  crime,  and  they  will  pass  from  the  intoxication 
of  ambition  to  that  of  sensuality.  So  I  said  to  myself: 
for  being  myself  a  slave  to  these  sinful  desires,  and 
never  dreaming  to  be  freed  from  them,  I  voluntarily 
accepted  their  yoke,  and,  despairing  of  a  better  life,  I 

*  "  Ego  cum  in  tenebris  atque  in  nocte  caeca  jacerem,  cumque 
in  salo  jactantis  saeculi  nutabundus  ac  dubius  vestigiis  oberrantibus 
fluctuarem  vitae  meae  nescius,  veritatis  ac  lucis  alienus."  (Cyprian, 
"  De  Gratia  Dei,"  4.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    417 

clung  to  my  perversity  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  my  very 
self."* 

It  is  clear  from  this  passage,  that  even  during  his 
life  of  sin,  Cyprian  was  not  utterly  insensible  to  the 
appeals  of  the  Gospel  ;  an  arrow  had  fixed  in  his  heart, 
and  he  tried  in  vain  to  draw  it  out.  Opportunities  of 
entering  into  relations  with  Christians  had  not  been 
wanting  to  him  in  his  native  city.  If  we  may  believe 
St.  Jerome,  his  first  serious  impression  was  received 
from  reading  the  prophet  Jonah.  Living  himself  in 
another  Nineveh,  no  less  corrupt  than  the  Assyrian 
city,  the  same  call  to  repentance  seems  to  have  reached 
his  heart,  which  so  many  ages  before  had  bowed  in 
humiliation  an  entire  idolatrous  people. t  But  the 
decisive  call  reached  him  through  a  priest  named 
Cascilius,  one  born,  like  himself,  a  pagan.  This  man, 
who  was  probably  attached  to  Cyprian  by  bonds  of 
friendship  and  kindred,  was  bent  with  his  whole  soul 
on  the  conversion  of  his  friend ;  this  he  made  his 
constant  concern,  his  great  work,  deeming  that  a  whole 
lifetime  of  prayer  and  pious  labour  was  richly  repaid 
by  the  gain  of  a  single  soul  to  Jesus  Christ.  Christian 
proselytism  still  retained  its  vitality  ;  it  was  as  earnest 
as  it  was  extensive  in  its  operations,  and  while  it  did 
not  neglect  to  cast  its  wide  net  over  entire  peoples, 
it  could  also,  where  occasion  served,  concentrate  its 
efforts  with  admirable  perseverance  and  energy  upon 

*  "  Ut  ipse  quam  plurimis  vitas  prioris  crroribus  implicitus 
tenebar,  quibus  exui  me  posse  non  crederem,  sic  vitiis  adhae- 
rentibus  obsecundans  eram  et  desperatione  meliorum  malis 
meis  veluti  jam  propriis  ac  vernaculis  offavcbam."  (Cyprian,  "  De 
Gratia  Dei.''  4  1 

t  "  Proponamus  nobis  bcatum  Cyprianum  qui,  cum  prius  idolatriae 
assertor  fuisset  in  tantam  gloriam  venit  eloquentia?,  ut  oratoriiim 
doceret  Carthagine,  audisse  scrmonem  Jonie  et  ad  pcenitentiam 
conversum."     (St.  Jerome,  "  In  Jon.,"  iii.) 


418  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

a  single  soul.  In  order  to  remove  his  friend  from 
every  adverse  influence,  and  to  watch  over  him  with 
the  more  unremitting  and  jealous  care,  Csecilius  took 
him  into  his  own  home.  He  was  a  married  man  and 
the  father  of  several  children,  and  he  thought,  with 
reason,  that  the  pure  atmosphere  of  a  Christian  family 
would  act  favourably  upon  the  heart  of  Cyprian,  and 
would  be  more  effectual  than  many  words  in  giving 
him  a  disgust  to  the  licence  of  pagan  manners.*  His 
expectations  proved  correct.  The  accomplished  and 
profligate  young  rhetorician  soon  learned,  under  the 
influence  of  one  whom  he  loved  as  a  father,  that 
the  natural  heart  can  be  entirely  changed,  and  he 
acknowledged,  in  his  own  experience,  that  that  which 
is  impossible  with  men  is  possible  with  God.  A  bond 
of  tender  and  holy  affection  was  thus  formed  for  ever 
between  Cyprian  and  Csecilius  ;  the  former  joined  the 
name  of  his  father  in  the  faith  to  his  own,  and  the 
latter,  when  dying,  committed  his  family  to  his  faithful 
disciple.  After  being  proved  as  a  catechumen,  Cyprian 
witnessed  at  length  the  dawn  of  the  solemn  day  on  which 
he  was  to  be  admitted  into  the  Church.  He  was  filled 
with  so  great  a  joy  that  he  lost  all  measure  in  its 
expression,  and  in  his  enthusiasm  he  ascribed  to  the 
waters  of  baptism  a  transformation,  of  which  the 
sacrament  was  in  truth  but  the  sign  and  seal.  It  is 
impossible  to  read  without  emotion  his  description 
of  the  great  change  in  his  inner  life.  "  When  my 
stains,"  he  says,  "  had  been  washed  away  in  the 
life-giving  water,  a  pure  and  heavenly  light  was 
diffused  through  my  quieted  heart.  So  soon  as  by 
the  breath  of  the  Spirit  I  was  born  again,  all  my 
doubts  were  suddenly  removed,  the  gates  of  truth 
*  Pontius,  "  Vita  Cypr." 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   419 

were  opened  to  me,  my  night  was  turned  to  day."* 
Thus  set,  as  he  himself  says,  upon  a  mountain-top, 
he  saw  everything  in  its  real  position,  and  in  its 
true  light, t  and  despised  all  that  before  had  beguiled 
and  led  him  astray.  Pagan  society,  looked  at 
from  this  luminous  height,  appeared  utterly  loath- 
some, and  he  turned  away  from  it  for  ever.  Thus, 
to  use  the  expression  of  St.  Augustine,  a  new  Cyprian 
took  the  place  of  the  old4  He  was  not  a  man  to  do 
anything  by  halves.  Like  Tertullian,  he  had  hot 
African  blood  in  his  veins,  though  he  was  capable  of 
more  self-restraint  than  that  great  master.  He  burst 
with  one  eftort  all  the  chains  of  his  old  life,  and 
renounced  at  once  all  the  advantages  it  offered.  He 
sold  his  possessions, §  and  became  a  vigorous  ascetic ; 
he  wished  to  eschew  everything  that  might  remind  him 
of  the  hated  past.  "  Henceforth,"  says  St.  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  "  he  had  nothing  but  contempt  for  the 
world ;  he  forsook  all  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  the 
age,  and  subjected  his  body  to  the  most  severe 
mortifications."  ||  He  observed,  however,  reasonable 
moderation  in  his  self-inflicted  penanced.  He  did  not 
go  from  one  extreme  to  another,  and  while  renouncing 
the  vanities  of  the  world,  he  did  not  seek  by  ostentatious 
austerities,  glory  01  another  kind,  but  no  less  flattering 
to  the  proud  heart  of  man.  His  dress  was  simple,  but 
vanity  did  not,  as  in  the  case  of  Diogenes,  peer  forth 
through    rents    in    his  mantle.      His   appearance   was 

*  "  Patere  clausa,  luccrc  tcncbrosa."    ("  Dc  Gratia  Dei,"  4  ) 

f  "  Paulisper  tc  crcde  subcluci  in  montis  ardui  verticem  celsiorcm." 
(Ibid..  6.) 

I  "  Evertit  veterem  Cyprianum  et  novum  Cyprianum  a?dificavit 
in  se."     (St.  Augustine,  "  Sermon/'  CXIX.  iii.) 

§  "  Christianus  tactus,  omnem  substantiam  suam  pauperibus 
erogavit."     (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.,"  lxvii.) 

||  Gregory  Nazianzen,  "  Orat.,"  xv. 


420  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

full  of  grave  dignity;  it  at  once  inspired  confidence  and 
respect ; *  and  though   he  lived   in  seclusion,   his  high 
social  position,  the  lustre  of  which  followed  him  even 
into  his  retirement,  his  great  talents,  his  fervent  piety, 
and  his  large  almsgivings,  speedily  won  for  him  much 
esteem  and  affection  in  the  Church  of  Carthage.     The 
more  he  crept  into  the  shade,  the  more  were  all  eyes 
fixed  upon    him.     Immediately   upon    his    conversion, 
he  mounted  the  breach  to  defend  his  new  convictions ; 
to  this  work   he    devoted    his   extensive  learning,   his 
noble  faculties,  and  a  talent   of   language  which   bor- 
rowed greatness  from  the  noble  cause  in  which  he  used 
it,  and  to  which  his   glowing  faith  communicated  the 
spark  of  inspiration.     "  Of  what  avail  to  him  had  been 
his   eloquence,"  says  Augustine,   "  while   he  was   still 
a  pagan?"     It  was  in   his  hand   a  precious  cup  from 
which  he  drank  and  from  which  he  poured  forth  poison. t 
When  by  the  goodness  of  God  he  had  been  enlightened, 
he  became  a  vessel  unto  honour  in  the  hand  of  God. 
Glory  and   praise  to  Him,  who  in  justifying  by  faith 
the  soul  of  His  servant,  snatched  him  from  the  service 
of  impiety,  and  made  his  word  a  sharp  two-edged  sword. 
The  noble  instrument  of  his  eloquence,  which  had  before- 
time  served  to  adorn  the  deadly  doctrine  of  devils,  was 
henceforward  used   for  the  edification  of  the  Church. 
That   voice,    which    had    been    the    martial    trumpet 
animating  the  soldiers  of  the  father  of  lies,  now  sent 
forth    its   sound    only   to    sustain   the    courage  of  the 
martyr-saints,  who,  under  their  captain,  Christ,  over- 
throw the  wicked  one,  while  they  lay  down  their  lives 
for  their  Master.    The  pious  and  holy  words  of  Cyprian, 

*  Pontius,  "  Vita  Cypr.,"  iv. 

t  "  Tanquam  poculo  pretioso  et  bibebat  mortiferos  et  proponebat 
errores."     (St.  Augustine,  "Sermon.,"  CXII.  ii.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   42I 

freed  from  the  obscuring  vapours  of  pagan  superstition, 
gave  forth  a  pure  and  heavenly  brightness.*  Before 
undertaking  the  defence  of  Christian  truth,  Cyprian 
diligently  studied  it  himself,  first  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, then  in  the  writings  of  his  forerunners  in  the 
faith,  especially  those  of  Tertullian. 

We  have  four  treatises  written  by  him  before  his 
elevation  to  the  episcopate.  His  letter  to  Donatus 
magnifies  the  greatness  of  the  Divine  grace  which  had 
raised  him  from  so  low  a  deep.  In  these  pages  we 
discern  the  former  professor  of  rhetoric,  who  does  not 
practise  in  his  language  the  same  ascetic  principles 
by  which  he  governs  his  life ;  his  discourse  trains  after 
it,  like  a  toga,  the  long  folds  of  its  redundant  periods. 
But  the  thoughts  expressed  are  so  truly  Christian,  the 
sentiments  bear  the  impress  of  such  deep  sincerity, 
that  their  oratorical  treatment  cannot  nullify  their 
force.  His  treatise  against  the  Vanity  of  Idols,  is 
borrowed  in  great  part  from  the  "  Octavius"  of  Minutius 
Felix.  His  tract  on  Testimony  is  a  simple  repertory 
of  Scripture  quotations  divided  into  three  books :  the 
first  treats  of  the  relations  of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
the  second  of  the  Incarnation,  and  the  third  of  the 
morality  of  the  Gospels.  This  work  was  designed 
to  establish  the  faith  of  a  young  Christian  named 
Quirinus.  Possibly  we  must  assign  to  this  period  his 
treatise  addressed  to  virgins,  which  breathes  the  severe 
asceticism  of  Tertullian.  In  his  early  works,  Cyprian 
displays  little  originality;  he  does  not  feel  the  need  of 
giving  fresh  life  to  his  subject  by  individual  reflection; 
he  willingly  accepts  already  existing  formulas  of  thought. 

*  "Cujus  pio  et  sancto,  non  jam  fabulosos  fumos  emovente 
sed  dominica  luce  radiante  eloquio."  (St.  Augustine,  "  Sermon.," 
CXII.iv.) 


423  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

These  he  expresses  with  clearness  and  eloquence,  but 
does  not  connect  them  by  a  chain  of  arguments.  It 
is  at  once  evident  that  he  will  not  rise  to  eminence 
as  a  theologian.  His  great  abilities  will  find  their 
scope  in  another  sphere. 

He  was  soon  raised  to  the  bishopric  by  one  of  those 
imperative  elections,  in  which  men  loved  to  recognise 
the  Divine  will.  He  had  only  been  newly  consecrated 
to  the  priestly  office,  when  he  was  constrained  by 
acclamation  to  accept  the  highest  function  in  the 
Church.  The  Christians  were  the  more  enthusiastic  in 
their  attachment  to  him,  the  more  he  was  hated  and 
ridiculed  by  the  pagans.  The  latter,  enraged  at  his 
conversion,  and  irritated  by  his  powerful  writings, 
heaped  insults  upon  him.*  In  vain  did  he  seek  to 
escape  from  the  urgent  solicitations  of  the  Christians 
of  Carthage,  dreading  the  result ;  they  followed  him 
even  into  his  dwelling,  and  unless  he  fled  like  a  male- 
factor, he  could  do  no  othes  than  yield  to  their  strong 
desire.  They  were  thus  eager  to  place  him  at  their 
head,  because  they  felt  that  in  him  they  would  find  the 
firm  and  wise  pilot  so  much  needed  by  the  Church  in 
the  perilous  days  at  hand.  His  election  was  opposed 
by  some  old  members  of  the  clergy  of  this  great 
Church,  who  were  annoyed  by  so  marked  a  preference 
of  a  younger  man,  and  one  whom  they  looked  upon 
as  inexperienced.  They  forgot  that  that  which  has 
been  well  called  the  Divine  art  of  governing,  is  a  gift 
and  an  instinct  rather  than  an  acquired  science.  From 
this  party  the  new  bishop  was  to  meet  with  serious 
obstacles.  But  if  he  was  young  in  the  faith,  he  had 
already  the  maturity  of  years,  and  that  richer  maturity  of 

*  The  pagans  called  him  Coprian  (from  Koirpoq,  dunghill),  instead 
of  Cyprian. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    423 

moral  character,  which  in  some  favoured  individuals 
is  reached  even  in  early  life.  "  Where  is  the  man," 
we  read  in  his  biography  by  the  Deacon  Pontius,  "who 
having  grown  old  in  the  faith,  and  having  listened  for 
long  years  to  the  sound  of  the  Divine  word,  has  done 
such  great  things  as  this  neophyte,  but  just  initiated 
into  our  mysteries,  and  already  leaving  far  behind  him 
his  elders  in  age  and  in  the  faith  ?  It  is  not  usual  to 
reap  as  soon  as  one  has  sown  ;  no  man  gathers  grapes 
from  a  vine  just  planted;  none  seeks  fruit  on  a  young 
sapling.  But  in  Cyprian  everything  has  advanced  to  a 
rapid  maturity."* 

Once  elevated  to  this  high  rank,  he  gave  full  proof 
of  his  fitness  for  it.  He  had  not  aspired  to  it,  but 
he  would  not  under  any  pretext  derogate  from  the 
dignity  of  the  office  by  concessions  which,  in  lowering 
his  own  authority,  would  have  done  injustice,  as  he 
thought,  to  the  sacred  trust  he  held.  We  shall  not 
enter  now  into  the  detail  of  his  conflicts  with  the 
numerous  adversaries  he  encountered,  for  this  would 
be  to  anticipate  the  history  of  the  internal  crises  of  the 
Church.  We  shall  simply  trace  the  outline  of  Cyprian's 
career,  as  a  bishop  and  a  Christian.  The  numerous 
letters  which  he  wrote  under  various  circumstances, 
and  particularly  in  the  retirement  from  which,  for 
a  long  time,  he  issued  directions  to  his  flock,  furnish 
us  with  the  most  valuable  documentary  information, 
first  about  himself,  and  then  about  the  numberless 
difficulties  in  the  midst  of  which  he  had  to  hold 
the  helm. 

Cyprian  was  essentially  an  advocate  for  governmental 
authority,  though  without  any  vulgar  ambition  for 
himself.  He  was  the  best  and  noblest  representative 
*  Pontius,  "  Vita  Cypr.,"  ii. 


424  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  the  hierarchical  party,  and  thus  repaired  the  injury 
done  to  that  party  by  such  men  as  Zephyrinus  and 
Callisthus.  To  him  was  due  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
the  hierarchy,  although  he  withstood  it  when  it  sought 
to  effect  its  crowning  usurpation  at  Rome.  Allowing 
for  the  difference  of  the  times,  of  modes  of  civilisation 
and  of  thought,  Cyprian  reminds  us  in  more  than  one 
respect  of  Ignatius,  the  great  bishop  of  the  second 
century.  More  prudent,  more  patient  in  awaiting  the 
crown  of  martyrdom,  he  resembles  Ignatius,  especially 
in  the  high  estimation  in  which  he  held  the  office  of 
bishop,  because  of  the  elevated  ideal  he  cherished 
of  that  office.  The  function  of  a  bishop  is  a  great  and 
glorious  one  in  his  eyes,  because  he  sees  in  it  such 
great  duties  to  be  performed.  He  is  guided  by  the 
highest  motives,  and  thinks  only  of  the  good  of  the 
Church,  which  he  unhappily  identifies  with  a  purely 
external  unity. 

As  soon  as  he  entered  upon  his  office,  it  became 
evident  that  he  possessed  the  gift  of  governing  souls. 
The  Deacon  Pontius  writes :  "  Such  grace  and  holiness 
beamed  from  his  face,  that  he  inspired  with  respect 
all  who  beheld  him.  His  countenance  was  at  once 
frank  and  thoughtful :  he  was  grave  without  dulness, 
gentle  without  weakness,  and  combined  all  tkese  various 
qualities  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  was  difficult  to  say 
whether  he  was  the  more  to  be  loved  or  revered;  indeed 
none  could  doubt  that  he  was  worthy  of  both  love  and 
reverence."* 

It  would  have  been  impossible  to  withhold  affec- 
tionate respect  from  so  disinterested  and  generous  a 
bishop  as  Cyprian.  He  showed  unwearying  devoted- 
ness  to  all  the  sufferers  of  his  flock ;  he  hesitated  at  no 
*  Pontius,  "  Vita  Cypr.,"  vi. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   425 

sacrifice  which  could  bring-  solace  to  the  poor  or  to  the 
prisoners.  He  had  sold  all  his  possessions  soon  after 
his  conversion,  that  he  might  distribute  to  such  as  had 
need.  A  country  house  with  which  he  had  parted  came 
back  into  his  possession  by  some  circumstance  with 
which  we  are  not  acquainted  ;  he  would  have  sold  it 
again,  but  that  he  feared  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
persecutors  ;  it  was  soon  known,  however,  what  became 
of  the  income  he  derived  from  it.  Almost  the  whole 
sum  was  divided  amongst  indigent  members  of  the 
Church.  "  I  implore  37ou,"  he  wrote  to  his  clergy, 
"take  peculiar  care  of  the  widows,  the  sick,  and  the 
poor.  If  you  find  some  in  needy  circumstances  among 
the  strangers,  take  all  the  sums  necessary  from  the 
money  which  I  left  with  Rogatian,  our  fellow-labourer 
in  the  priesthood.*  Lest  that  fund  should  be  ex- 
hausted, I  have  sent  you  a  fresh  supply  by  the  acolyte 
Naricus,  that  you  may  be  able  promptly  and  generously 
to  succour  our  brethren  in  distress."  t  Such  messages 
as  these  occur  again  and  again  in  his  letters.  With 
reference  to  the  Christians  in  prison,  he  writes :  "  Let 
nothing  be  wanting  to  those  to  whom  no  honour  is 
wanting."  X  He  set  on  foot  liberal  collections  for  those 
who  were  sentenced  to  work  in  the  mines,  and  the 
primacy  he  is  always  most  eager  to  assert  for  himself 
is  that  of  giving.  He  is  jealous  that  not  the  faintest 
suspicion  of  interested  motive  should  rest  upon  any 
minister  of  the  Church,  and  he  severely  blames  one 
priest,  who  allowed  himself  to  be  named  in  a  will  as 

*  "  Sumptus  suggeratis  de  quantitate  mea  propria."  ("  Epist.,"  vii.) 
t  "Quae  quantitas  nc  forte  jam  universa  erogata  sit,  misi  aliam 

portionem,  ut  largius  et  promptius  circa  laborantcs  fiat  operatic" 

(Ibid.) 

J  "Ne  auid  ad  curam  desit  iis  quibus  ad  gloriam  nihil  dcest." 

Qbid.,i.) 

28 


426  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

trustee  of  the  property  of  one  Christian.  "  Those," 
he  says,  "  who  are  honoured  to  be  in  the  priesthood, 
ought  to  attend  only  to  the  things  of  the  altar,  to 
sacrifice  and  prayer.*  It  is  written  that  he  who 
fights  for  God  must  not  entangle  himself  with  the 
affairs  of  this  life.  If  these  words  are  addressed 
to  all  Christians,  with  how  much  greater  emphasis 
do  they  apply  to  those  who  are  entirely  devoted 
to  Divine  things!"  In  the  fear  lest  any  low  or  inte- 
rested motive  should  be  supposed  to  bias  the  prayers 
of  the  clergy,  he  forbade  prayer  to  be  publicly  offered 
for  those  who  had  made  any  legacy  to  a  priest  or 
deacon. 

Cyprian's  charity  never  degenerates  into  weakness. 
He  possessed  that  faculty  of  organisation  which  is  an 
essential  element  of  the  genius  of  governing.  Every 
thing  in  his  Church  was  done  in  due  order;  and  alms, 
so  far  from  being  given  at  hazard,  were  distributed 
with  great  prudence.  A  wise  regulation  made  by  the 
bishop,  appointed  frequent  visitations  of  the  poor,  so 
that  the  help  given  might  be  proportioned  to  their 
necessities,  and  not  continued  longer  than  was  re- 
quired, t  We  shall  see  that  this  regulation  raised 
serious  difficulties  in  his  way,  but  we  nevertheless 
regard  it  as  a  proof  of  his  special  fitness  for  the  govern- 
ment of  a  great  Church.  While  Cyprian  thus  aims 
at  a  steady  maintenance  of  the  hierarchy,  he  yet 'does 
not  desire  an  unlimited  extension  of  its  authority.  He 
tries  to  act  in  harmony  with  his  clergy,  and  to  have 
his  measures  sustained  by  the  assent  of  the  Christian 
community.  "  I  have  come  to  the  resolution,"  he  writes 
to  his  priests,  "  to  do  nothing  of  myself,  without  your 

*  "  Non  nisi  altari  et  sacrificiis  deservire."     ("  Epist.,"  i.  1.) 
t  "Epist.,"  xli. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    427 

opinion  and  the  consent  of  the  people."*  Nevertheless, 
he  governs  his  Church  with  a  firm  hand.  He  feels 
that  the  mainspring  of  the  whole  must  be  touched  by 
him  ;  he  has  an  eye  for  everything — nothing  escapes 
him,  from  the  smallest  matter  of  detail  to  the  most 
open  irregularity  or  menacing  division.  His  authority 
is  all  the  more  firmly  established  because  it  is  exercised 
in  so  much  love.  Cyprian  is  not  so  much  a  bishop 
keeping  jealous  watch  over  his  own  rights,  as  he  is  a 
shepherd  bearing  the  sacred  burden  of  souls.  He 
is  not  willing  that  one  of  his  flock  should  wander  or  be 
lost.  He  would  like  to  be  present  in  every  dwelling, 
and  to  rule  his  great  family  as  a  good  father  rules 
his  house.  Especially  did  he  long  to  lighten  with  his 
presence  the  dark  abodes  where  the  confessors  lay 
in  chains,  and  to  carry  comfort,  encouragement,  and 
strength  to  his  brethren  in  poverty  or  sickness.  "Would 
God,"  he  writes  from  the  retreat  to  which  he  had  fled 
that  he  might  escape  certain  death,  and  thus  be  enabled 
a  little  longer  to  keep  watch  over  the  flock — "  would 
God  I  were  not  hindered  by  distance  and  by  duty  from 
being  present  in  your  midst  !t  With  what  readiness 
and  joy  would  I  fulfil  my  sacred  ministry  among  you, 
my  heroic  brethren,  and  show  to  you  the  depth  of  my 
tender  affection  !  "  He  commends  the  sick,  with  pecu- 
liar earnestness,  to  the  care  of  the  clergy,  regarding 
them  also  as  God's  confessors.  "  He  who  has  accepted 
suffering  and  death,  as  under  the  eye  of  God,  has 
endured   all  that   it  was  God's  will   he   should  endure. 

*  "  Ouando  a  primordio  cpiscopatus  mci  statuerim  nihil  sine 
consilio  vestro  et  sine  consensu  plcbis  mea  privatim  sententia 
gerere."     ("  Epist.,"  xiv.  4.) 

f  "  Utinam  loci  et  gradus  mei  conditio  permitteret,  ut  ipse  nunc 
prassens  esse  possem  !"     (Ibid.,  xii.  1.) 


428  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

He  has  not  been  wanting  in  the  spirit  of  martyrdom, 
but  martyrdom  has  not  come  to  him."  *  .  .  .  Again 
he  says,  on  the  outbreak  of  a  schism :  "  What  a  grief 
is  it  to  me  to  be  far  from  you,  and  only  able  to  exhort 
you  to  act  according  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  It  was 
not,  then,  sorrow  enough  for  me  to  be  exiled  for  two 
years,  not  to  be  able,  alas  !  any  more  to  see  your  faces, 
to  look  into  your  eyes,  to  weep  day  and  night  over  this 
separation,  because,  though  raised  to  the  high  rank  of 
a  bishop,  I  could  neither  see  you  nor  receive  your 
embraces ;  to  this  desolation  of  soul  is  added  the  grief 
of  being  unable,  in  such  a  time  of  anxiety,  to  hasten 
to  you."  t  Cyprian  could  say  with  St.  Paul,  "Who 
is  offended,  and  I  burn  not  ?  "  We  have  already 
quoted  the  touching  words  in  which  he  expresses 
his  deep  grief  at  the  numerous  apostasies  which  dis- 
honoured the  Church  of  Carthage.  His  heart  bleeds 
with  these  wounds,  and  by  the  agonised  tone  of  his 
lamentation  we  can  measure  the  intensity  of  his  love 
for  souls. 

Cyprian  combines  with  this  devoted  affection  a  prac- 
tical sagacity,  which  always  leads  him  to  perceive  at 
once  the  right  course  to  take.  He  gave  the  most 
striking  and  decisive  proof  of  this  when  he  had  the 
courage  to  leave  Carthage,  just  as  the  persecution  under 
Decius  broke  out.  To  do  so  cost  him  a  most  painful 
sacrifice.  He  had  read  with  admiration  the  burning 
pages,  in  which  he  whom  he  called  his  master  had 
condemned  flight  in  the  presence  of  danger.  He  knew 
that  a  large  party  in  his  own  Church  shared  this  strong 
opinion,    which    had    on    its    side    all   the    prestige    of 

*  "Non  enim  ipse  tormentis,  sed  tormenta  ipsi  defuerunt." 
("Epist.,"  xii.  1.) 

f  "  Ipse  singulos  aggredi."     (Ibid.,  xliii.  4.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF    THE    CHURCH.        429 

heroism.  Cyprian  had  enemies  eager  to  cast  a  reproach 
upon  him.  Obviously  the  most  easy  and  the  most 
glorious  course  for  him  to  pursue,  would  have  been  to 
remain  at  Carthage.  Already  the  populace  had  more 
than  once  raised  the  cry,  "  Cyprian  to  the  lions !  " 
The  crown  of  martyrdom,  rest  from  his  labours,  glory 
in  heaven  and  fame  upon  earth,  would  all  have  been 
achieved  at  once  by  the  bishop,  if  he  had  simply 
prolonged  his  stay  in  his  native  town.  But  he  was 
guided  by  higher  considerations ;  he  knew  that  duty 
comes  before  glory,  and  that  the  matter  of  supreme 
importance  is  to  keep  the  charge  committed  to  us, 
without  impatiently  seeking  to  exchange  it  for  one  more 
full  of  glory  and  of  peril.  Cyprian  remembered  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord,  who  had  enjoined  flight 
in  time  of  persecution,  whenever  it  could  be  accom- 
plished without  cowardly  denial  of  the  faith.  He  knew 
how  greatly  the  Church  of  Carthage  stood  in  need  of 
his  direction;  the  path  of  duty  seemed  to  him  plain. 
To  remain  in  a  city  where  he  was  at  once  so  well 
known  and  so  deeply  hated  was  to  court  certain  death. 
He  therefore  took  the  course  least  easy  to  himself. 
"We  are  bound,"  he  said,  "to  consider  the  general 
good,  and,  whatever  pain  it  may  cost  us,  to  leave  the 
city,  that  our  presence  may  not  exasperate  the  hatred 
and  rage  of  the  pagans."  *  From  the  retired  pl-ace 
where  he  remained  in  concealment,  he  continued  to 
direct  his  Church  by  frequent  letters,  thus  carrying 
on  in  a  manner  the  pastoral  supervision  of  his  flock. t 
It  is  in  this  correspondence  that  he  displays  especially 
his  skill  in  the  delicate  art  of  controlling  and  directing 

*  "  Oportct  nos   tamcn   paci   communi    consulere,  et  interdum, 
quamvis  cum  trcdio  animi  nostri,  deesse  vobis."     ("  Epist.,"  vii.) 
f  "  Quomodo  possum  visito  vos  litteris  meis."     (Ibid.,  xliii.  1.) 


430  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

other  minds.  He  maintains  his  authority  over  men  with  a 
gentle  firmness,  which  is  all  the  more  irresistible  because 
it  never  puts  any  on  the  defensive  by  arrogance  of  tone. 
His  language  adapts  itself  with  admirable  ease  to  the 
temperament  and  condition  of  those  whom  he  addresses. 
In  giving  directions  to  his  clergy,  his  style  is  clear, 
exact,  and  concise  as  a  command ;  but  it  is  a  command 
given  without  harshness  and  without  pride.  Cyprian 
is  full  of  love,  of  enthusiasm,  even  of  respect,  when  he 
endeavours  to  animate  the  courage  of  the  confessors; 
he  never  forgets  to  treat  them  with  all  gentle  consider- 
ation, even  when  he  feels  bound  to  oppose  them,  and 
his  severity  is  tempered  by  the  remembrance  of  their 
sufferings.  In  his  correspondence  with  the  heads  of 
other  Churches,  he  expresses  himself  with  clearness 
and  with  judicial  authority  on  the  most  critical  ques- 
tions raised  by  the  ecclesiastical  controversies.  He 
dispels  all  misunderstandings,  and  wins  over  those 
most  prejudiced  against  him.  He  is  quite  prepared 
also,  if  necessary,  to  act  with  vigour  and  decision,  and 
he  is  as  bold  in  his  opposition  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
as  to  the  martyrs,  when  the  authority  and  independence 
of  the  episcopal  office  are  called  in  question. 

He  is  never  more  eloquent,  however,  than  when 
addressing  Christians  under  circumstances  of  peril. 
He  is  like  one  of  those  great  generals  who  are  inspired 
by  the  presence  of  danger ;  he  speaks  such  words  as 
kindle  thousands  of  souls  by  the  single  spark  flashed 
from  a  heroic  spirit,  words  which  bow  trembling 
multitudes  beneath  their  mighty  sway,  as  the  strong 
wind  bows  the  fields  of  corn.  Writing  to  the  Christians 
of  the  little  town  of  Thibaris,  whom  he  was  prevented 
from  visiting  according  to  promise,  by  the  fresh  outbreak 
of  persecution,  he  says:  "  You  must  know  that  the  day 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.    43I 

of  desolation  has  dawned  upon  us,  and  that  the  close 
of  the  present  age  and  the  coming  of  Antichrist  are  at 
hand.  Let  us  be  ready  for  the  combat ;  let  us  set  our 
minds  now  on  nothing  but  the  glory  of  life  eternal  and 
the  crown  of  the  confessors.  We  are  on  the  eve  of  a 
conflict  sharp  and  terrible.  The  soldiers  of  Christ  must 
arm  themselves  for  it  by  an  incorruptible  faith  and  an 
indomitable  courage,  so  that  they  may"  drink  every  day 
of  the  cup  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  be  ready  to  shed 
their  blood  for  Him.*  Let  no  one,  then,  desire  or 
expect  anything  from  this  dying  age  ;t  let  each  one  of 

us  follow  the  Christ  eternal It  ill  becomes 

a  soldier  to  speak  only  of  peace,  and  to  shrink  at  the 
sound  of  war.  Does  not  the  Lord  go  before  us  in  this 
holy  warfare,  as  the  pattern  of  lowliness  and  meekness, 
of  long-suffering  and  patience  ?  He  was  the  first 
to  do  that  which  He  desires  us  to  do,  and  He  has 
suffered  for  us  all  that  He  exhorts  us  to  suffer.  Be  not 
terrified  at  the  thought  of  the  dangers  of  flight.  Let 
not  the  solitude  of  the  deserts  into  which  you  must 
steal,  fill  you  with  horror  or  alarm.  He  is  not  alone 
who  has  Christ  with  him  in  his  flight.  If  some  fugitive 
Christian  has  been  killed  by  a  brigand  in  a  lonely 
spot,  if  he  has  fallen  a  prey  to  wild  beasts,  to  hunger, 
or  thirst,  or  cold,  or  tempest,  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
the  witness  of  His  faithful  soldier  fighting  unto  death. 
His  martyrdom  is  well  attested,  and  will  be  surely  re- 
corded by  Him,  who  knows  and  who  crowns  His  true 
confessors."^:     On  another  occasion,  Cyprian  addressed 

*  "Idcirco  sc  quotidic  calicem  sanguinis  Christi  bibere." 
("  Epist.,'    lviii.  1.) 

t  "  Ut  nemo  quidquam  de  sa?culo  jam  moriente  desidcret." 
(Ibid.,  lviii.  2.) 

I  "  Sufficit  ad  testimonium  martyrii  sui  testis  ille,  qui  probat 
martyres  et  coronat."     (Ibid.,  lviii.  4.) 


432  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

these  pathetic  words  to  his  own  Church,  warning  it 
against  schism  :  "  My  beloved  brethren,  I  beseech  you 
not  to  lend  a  daring  ear  to  pernicious  words  and 
deceitful  speeches;  take  not  darkness  for  light,  night 
for  day,  hunger  for  the  bread  that  nourishes,  thirst 
for  the  water  that  quenches  thirst,  poison  for  medicine, 
death  for  life."* 

We  shall  for  the  present  confine  our  attention  to  the 
conflicts  in  which  Cyprian  was  engaged  within  his  own 
Church.  We  have  seen  that  from  the  time  he  entered 
upon  his  office,  a  hostile  faction  was  formed  against 
him  among  the  members  of  the  Church  at  Carthage. 
We  shall  have  to  inquire  presently  whether  this  party 
was  actuated  merely  by  motives  of  personal  ambition, 
or  whether  it  did  not  represent,  in  the  capital  of  procon- 
sular Africa,  that  party  of  resistance  which  everywhere 
opposed  the  encroachments  of  the  hierarchy,  and  which 
we  have  observed  in  all  the  great  ecclesiastical  centres 
of  the  day.  Unhappily,  the  case  was  not  parallel 
between  Carthage  and  Rome.  At  Carthage,  the  hier- 
archy was  much  better  represented  than  was  the  cause 
of  liberty,  and  Cyprian  stood  on  a  far  higher  platform 
both  of  piety  and  disinterestedness  than  his  adversaries. 
The  most  serious  difficulties  arose  in  the  Church  during 
the  absence  of  the  bishop.  The  confessors  who  had 
heroically  endured  a  painful  captivity  for  the  name 
of  Christ,  taking  advantage  of  the  enthusiastic  affec- 
tion of  which  they  were  the  objects,  held  themselves 
to  be  superior  to  the  disciplinary  laws  of  the  Church, 
and  granted  to  Christians  who  had  fallen,  not  merely 
an   urgent   recommendation   to   the   Church,  but   even 

*  "  Ne  pro  luce  tenebras,  pro  die  noctem,  pro  cibo  iamem,  pro 
potu  sitim,  venerium  pro  remedio,  mortem  pro  salute  sumatis.'' 
(/'Epist.,"  xviii.  4.) 


BOOK   II.— THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        433 

complete  and  immediate  restoration  to  its  fellowship. 
They  thus  raised  a  serious  question  of  discipline,  and 
provoked  a  sharp  conflict  of  power  at  Carthage.  Cyprian 
felt  it  incumbent  on  him  to  defend  at  once  the  episcopal 
authority  and  the  disciplinary  laws  of  the  Church.  He 
obtained  the  concurrence  of  threading  Churches  of  the 
West,  his  adversaries  submitted  one  after  another,  and 
everything  seemed  to  promise  a  peaceful  termination 
to  the  contest,  when  the  regulation  referring  to  the 
distribution  of  alms,  already  mentioned,  revived  all  the 
bitterness  of  party  feeling.  It  was  instigated  by  the 
Deacon  Felicissimus,  who  was  soon  after  irregularly 
raised  to  the  priesthood  by  Novatus,  one  of  the  priests 
in  opposition.  The  adversaries  of  Cyprian  brought 
vehement  recriminations  against  him  for  the  broader 
views  he  had  adopted  in  matters  of  discipline — views 
which  kept  the  happy  medium  between  laxity  and 
extreme  severity  ;  they  accused  him  of  favouring  a  loose 
morality,  and  constituted  themselves  the  champions 
of  a  life  of  ascetic  rigour.  On  his  return  to  Carthage 
he  wrote  in  opposition  to  them  his  treatise  on  fallen 
Christians,  and  called  a  synod  of  the  bishops  of  the 
province  (a.d.  251).  His  opponents  split  into  two 
parties,  each  naming  a  bishop  of  its  own.  Fortunatus 
was  chosen  by  the  less  intolerant  section,  and  Maximus 
by  the  more  rigid  schismatics.  Both  were  condemned 
by  the  first  synod  of  Carthage,  as  the  result  of  which, 
Novatus  proceeded  to  Rome  to  seek  a  larger  sphere 
of  influence,  and  associating  himself  with  Novatian, 
succeeded  temporarily  in  dividing  the  whole  Church. 
This  entire  controversy  was  summed  up  by  Cyprian  in 
his  treatise  against  the  Novatians,  and  the  conclusions 
which  he  drew  from  it  in  favour  of  the  hierarchy  were 
presented   by  him  with  equal   clearness  and  vigour  in 


434  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

bis  celebrated  treatise  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church.  It 
was  also  at  this  time  he  wrote  his  apologetic  treatise 
addressed  to  Demetrianus,  in  which  he  vindicated  the 
new  religion  from  the  reproach  of  having  brought  down 
upon  the  world  the  scourges  with  which  it  was  desolated. 
His  treatise  on  Mortality,  which  is  an  epitome  of  the 
discourse  delivered  by  him  to  his  Church  in  the  midst 
of  the  frightful  epidemic  which  laid  waste  the  city, 
is  of  the  same  date,  as  are  also  his  writings  on  Alms- 
giving and  on  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

One  more  conflict  yet  awaited  him  ;  and  he  who  had 
so  brilliantly  represented  the  hierarchical  party,  was 
transformed  by  shifting  circumstances  into  the  cham- 
pion of  liberty.  Cyprian  was  anxious  to  preserve 
episcopal  authority  in  its  integrity,  in  opposition  to 
encroachments  from  above  as  well  as  from  below,  and 
he  was  prepared  to  defend  it  against  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  as  firmly  as  against  the  Presbyterian  party. 
Thus,  when  a  dispute  arose  between  him  and  Stephen 
on  the  subject  of  the  baptism  of  heretics,  which  he- 
declared  to  be  insufficient,  he  maintained  his  principle 
as  tenaciously  as  he  had  held  his  ground  against  Feli- 
cissimus  and  Novatus.  No  consideration  could  make 
him  yield.  All  who  look  upon  the  decisions  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  as  of  final  authority,  must  hold  that 
the  great  Bishop  of  Carthage  died  a  schismatic.  But, 
on  the  same  grounds,  the  whole  Church  of  Africa  in 
the  third  century-  merits  the  same  appellation  ;  for  at 
the  second  synod  of  Carthage,  Cyprian,  supported  by 
the  concurrence  of  a  synod  of  the  bishops  of  Asia 
Minor,  caused  his  opinions  to  be  adopted  by  all  his 
colleagues.  He  shortly  after  wrote  his  letter  to  Fides 
on  the  Baptism  of  Children,  and  his  treatises  on 
Patience  and  Envy. 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   435 

The  hour  of  final  conflict  for  Cyprian  was  at  hand. 
Valerian  had  just  promulgated  the  edict  of  persecution. 
The  Bishop  of  Carthage  had  a  secret  presentiment 
of  his  approaching  end,  and  he  looked  forward  to  it 
with  unmixed  joy,  for  he  knew  that  he  would  leave 
behind  him  a  Church  well-organised  and  victorious  over 
schism.  Xystus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  had  fallen  a  victim 
in  the  catacombs,  and  Cyprian  read  in  this  death  a 
prophecy  of  his  own.  He  had  already  prepared  his 
Church  for  persecution  by  his  Exhortation  to  Martyr- 
dom. He  himself  was  first  exiled  to  Curubis,  an 
obscure  village  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Carthage. 
There  he  was  warned  in  a  dream  of  his  approaching 
end.  He  was  brought  back  to  the  town,  and  confined 
in  some  gardens  belonging  to  him,  to  await  the  pleasure 
of  the  new  proconsul.  Having  heard  that  some  lictors 
were  about  to  seize  his  person,  to  carry  him  to  Utica, 
whither  that  governor  had  gone,  he  hid  himself  in  the 
city,  being  fully  resolved  to  die  in  the  place  in  which  he 
had  exercised  his  bishopric.  He  expresses  this  desire 
with  sublime  simplicity  in  the  last  letter  written  by 
him  to  his  Church  :  "  Word  had  been  brought  me, 
beloved  brethren,  that  lictors  were  to  be  sent  to  convey 
me  to  Utica,  and  some  dear  friends  urged  me  to 
leave  my  gardens,  and  hide  myself  in  the  city.  I 
thought  well  to  act  on  their  advice  ;  for  it  is  meet 
that  a  bishop  should  confess  his  Saviour  in  the  city 
where  he  has  exercised  his  office,  that  the  glory  of 
his  good  confession  may  be  reflected  on  his  people.* 
In  truth,  the  words  which  a  martyr-bishop  speaks  at 
such  a  moment,  he  speaks  under  divine  inspiration  in 


*  "  Quod   congruat  episcopum    in  ea  civitatc,  in   qua  ecclesiae 
dominicae  prasest,  illic  Dominum  confiteri."     [lt  Epist.,"  lxxxi.  1.) 


436  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  name  of  all.*  The  honour  of  our  illustrious  Church 
would  have  been  compromised  if  I,  its  bishop,  had 
placed  myself,  as  it  were,  at  the  head  of  another  Church, 
submitting  to  be  condemned  in  Utica,  and  undergoing 
in  that  town  the  martyrdom  which  is  to  exalt  me 
into  the  presence  of  God.  No  ;  for  my  own  sake,  and 
for  yours,  I  will  confess  Jesus  Christ,  and  will  suffer  for 
Him,  in  your  midst  ;t  I  will  go  to  my  God  amid  the 
incense  of  your  prayers,  which  must  ascend  to  Him 
continually  on  my  behalf.  We  shall  await  here  in 
seclusion  the  return  of  the  proconsul  to  Carthage,  to 
learn  from  him  the  decision  of  the  emperor  with  regard 
to  Christian  bishops  or  laics,  and  to  say  to  him  that 
which  God  shall  at  the  moment  give  us  to  speak.  And 
do  you,  my  beloved  brethren,  preserve  in  peace  the 
discipline  founded  upon  the  commandments  of  the 
Lord,  as  I  have  taught  you  both  by  word  and  practice. 
Let  none  of  you  cause  any  offence  among  the  brethren, 
nor  expose  himself  needlessly  to  persecution.  It  will 
be  time  to  speak  when  you  are  taken  and  brought 
before  the  tribunal.  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  in  us,  will 
speak  for  us  in  that  hour  ;  He  prefers  a  faithful  testi- 
mony to  rash  imprudence.  If  there  are  any  measures 
to  be  taken,  we  will  decide  on  them  together  under  the 
eye  of  God,  before  the  proconsul  shall  have  pronounced 
my  condemnation.  Dearly  beloved  brethren,  may  our 
Lord  preserve  you  from  all  evil  in  His  Church  !  " 

This  letter  is  the  dying  testament  of  Cyprian.  It 
exhibits  the   whole   man,   with   his  natural   prudence, 

*  "  Quodcunque  enim  sub  illo  confessionis  momento  confessor 
episcopus  loquitur,  adspirante  Deo  ore  omnium  loquitur."  ("Epist.," 
lxxxi.  i .) 

t  "  Quandoquidem  ego  et  pro  me  et  pro  vobis  apud  vos  confiteri 
et  ibi  pati  et  exinde  ad  Dominum  proticisci  orationibus  continuis 
deprecer."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK    II. — THE    FATHERS    OF   THE    CHURCH.        437 

which  forbids  the  useless  braving  of  persecution  ;  with 
his  calm  courage,  his  absolute  devotion  to  the  Church, 
for  which  he  has  lived  and  on  which  he  is  anxious 
to  reflect  the  glory  of  his  martyrdom  ;  and  finally,  with 
that  concern  for  order  and  unity  which  so  strongly 
characterises  his  whole  career  as  bishop.  These  last 
words  give  us  also  a  deep  insight  into  the  heart 
of  Cyprian  as  a  Christian  ;  they  show  his  faith  in  the 
permanence  of  inspiration  and  his  clinging  to  prophetic 
visions.  They  exhale,  as  it  were,  an  odour  of  mystic 
fervour. 

When  the  proconsul  returned  to  Carthage,  Cyprian 
was  brought  before  his  tribunal.  An  immense  crowd 
filled  the  prsetorium,  brought  thither  partly  by  the  thirst 
for  vengeance,  partly  by  the  desire  of  witnessing  a  grand 
spectacle.  The  glory  of  the  accused,  his  recognised 
and  often  proved  authority  in  matters  of  dispute,  the 
fame  of  his  eloquence — all  must  have  tended  to  stimu- 
late curiosity.  While  the  wrath  of  the  populace  was 
roaring  against  him  (to  use  the  powerful  language 
of  Pontius),  and  while  death-cries  were  rising  from  the 
surging  masses  of  the  crowd,  he  had  the  consolation 
of  being  surrounded  by  all  the  Christians  in  the  city, 
who  had  hastened  to  the  spot  to  sustain  him  by  their 
sympathy  and  their  prayers.* 

After  his  first  hearing  he  was  remanded  to  prison, 
and  passed  this  last  night  with  his  brethren.  The 
next  morning  he  found  the  whole  population  of  the 
city  assembled,  so  as  to  witness  every  incident  of  his 
condemnation.  When  he  arrived  in  the  presence  of 
the  proconsul  he  was  bathed  in  profuse  perspiration, 
and  a  soldier  offered  to  change  garments  with  him. 
"  It  is  a  needless  remedy,"  he  answered,  "  for  ills 
*  Pontius,  14,  15. 


438  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

which  will  end  to-day."  The  examination  was  short. 
The  crime,  indeed,  was  patent.  "  Art  thou  Thascius 
Csecilius  Cyprian  ?  "  asked  the  judge.  "  I  am."  "  The 
most  holy  emperors  command  thee  to  sacrifice  to  the 
gods."  "  I  shall  not  obey."  "  Have  a  care  for  thy 
life."  "  Carry  out  your  orders.  In  so  righteous  a 
cause  there  is  no  need  for  deliberation."  This  short 
dialogue  pitted  the  old  claim  against  the  new — the  old, 
servile  submission  to  the  despotism  of  the  State,  against 
the  rights  of  conscience,  the  rights  of  the  individual 
whose  citizenship  belongs  to  a  higher  city.  Sentence 
was  at  once  pronounced.  It  described  Cyprian  as  the 
standard-bearer  of  Christianity  in  Carthage,  and  thus 
paid  him  the  truest  homage,  for  no  influence  could 
equal  his,  and  he  had  carried  the  Church  on  with  him 
along  the  path  of  mistaken  authority,  no  less  than 
along  the  path  of  heroic  devotion  and  self-sacrifice. 
He  was  beheaded  the  same  day  in  the  sight  of  all 
Carthage.  His  enemies  thus  used  the  best  means 
to  establish  and  extend  his  moral  influence,  and  never 
was  he  more  truly  the  head  of  the  Church  of  Africa, 
than  when  the  banner  which  he  had  been  accused 
of  bearing  had  been  dipped  in  his  blood. 

Proconsular  Africa  gave  yet  one  more  apologist  to 
the  Church  —  Arnobius  of  Sicca,  who  lived  at  the 
commencement  of  the  fourth  century.  Arnobius  was 
a  popular  rhetorician  of  a  small  town  of  Africa,  at 
a  time  of  deep  literary  decadence.  We  may  easily 
imagine,  therefore,  what  were  the  habits  of  thought 
and  style  acquired  in  such  a  school.*  Christianity  did 
not   divest  him  of  these  characteristics  ;     and    when, 

*  "  Arnobius  sub  Diocletiano  principe  Siccae  apud  Africam 
florentissime  rhetoricam  docuit."  (St.  Jerome,  "  De  Viris  Illustr.," 
lxxix.) 


BOOK  II. — THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.   439 

after  attacking  it  in  various  writings,  he  adopted 
its  belief,  he  defended  the  faith,  as  he  had  assaulted 
it,  without  dignity  or  true  eloquence.  The  seven 
books  of  his  Apology,  written  at  the  commencement  of 
the  persecution  under  Dioclesian,  *  deserve  the  severe 
sentence  passed  upon  them  by  St.  Jerome,  when  he 
charged  Arnobius  with  being  unequal  and  confused 
in  style. t  The  author  first  defends  the  Church  against 
the  ordinary  accusations  of  the  pagans,  he  then  endea- 
vours to  establish  the  legitimacy  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  concludes  by  a  violent  attack  on  paganism.  The 
closing  portion  alone  has  any  value;  it  contains  some 
important  information,  showing  how  deep  was  the 
degradation  of  Rome  at  this  period.  But  Arnobius, 
forgetting  that  there  are,  as  St.  Paul  says,  some  things 
not  lawful  to  be  uttered,  details  without  reserve,  and 
in  language  often  indecent,  the  foul  offences  of  paganism 
against  morality.  We  shall  see  that  his  Apology  stands 
in  strong  contrast  with  the  great  Apology  of  Alexandria. 
Arnobius  delights  in  vilifying  and  treading  into  the  dust 
the  nature  of  man.  There  could  be  no  surer  prepara- 
tion for  religious  despotism,  which  flourishes  on  the 
degradation  of  the  soul  and  conscience.  Such  a  book 
as  that  of  Arnobius  proclaims  a  new  era.  The  Church, 
which  is  about  to  achieve  a  victory  in  the  domain 
of  external  authority,  is  already  riveting  with  hei 
own  hands,  the  fetters  which  will  rob  her  of  her  true 
freedom  within. 

*  We  see  in  his  book.  "  Disput.  adv.  gentes."  iv.  36,  that,  in  his 
time,  the  Christian  temples  and  the  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
were  burnt,  which  points  us  to  the  date  indicated. 

t  St.  Jerome,  "  Epist,"  xlvi. 


BOOK    THIRD. 

THE   ATTACK  AND  DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY 
IN   THE   DOMAIN   OF   CONTROVERSY. 

CHAPTER    I. 

THE    ATTACK. 

§   I.  Current  Polemics.* 

The  pagan  reaction  which  we  have  described,  was 
in  itself  an  impassioned  protest  against  Christianity. 
But  so  intense  a  hatred  could  not  but  find  more  open 
and  vehement  manifestation  ;  it  expressed  itself  some- 
times in  the  murderous  clamour  of  the  crowd,  sometimes 
in  the  light,  envenomed  arrows  of  sarcasm,  sometimes, 
on  a  wider  scale,  in  systematic  attacks  upon  Christianitv. 
Fierce  and  rude  in  the  mouth  of  the  plebeian  or  the 
villager,  fine  and  ironical  on  the  compressed  lips  of  the 
well-bred  scoffer,  learned  and  didactic  in  the  writings 
of  the  philosophers,  this  hatred  is  equally  hot  among 
all  ranks  and  in  all  grades  of  culture ;  popular  fanati- 
cism and  science,  which  have  combined  to  re-establish 
paganism,  make  common  cause  against  the  common 
enemy. 

We   shall  not  recapitulate  the  vile  calumnies  against 

*  Beside  the  writings  of  the  Fathers  or  pagan  authors  of  the 
time,  we  shall  cite  from  Tschirner's  work,  "  Geschichte  der  Apolo- 
getik." 


BOOK    III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.        44I 

the  Christians,  which  found  currency  among  the  lowest 
of  the  people,  and  which  led  to  the  shedding  of  so  much 
innocent  blood.  We  have  already  alluded  to  them 
more  than  once  in  the  history  of  the  persecutions, 
which  they  did  so  much  to  provoke  or  to  justify  in  the 
eyes  of  the  ignorant  masses.  These  accusations  were 
founded  on  the  recent  origin  of  Christianity;- on  the 
baldness  of  its  worship,  which  they  characterised  as 
atheism;  on  the  pretended  immorality  of  its  disciples; 
on  its  noble  independence  of  the  State  in  matters  of 
religion;  and  lastly,  upon  the  calamities  and  scourges 
for  which  it  was  held  responsible,  on  the  pretext  that 
it  drew  down  the  anger  of  the  gods.*  Such  calumnies 
were  made  for  three  centuries  the  pretext  for  the  judicial 
conflict  between  the  two  religions.  We  shall  notice 
here  only  those  attacks  which  elicited  in  reply  the 
Apology  properly  so  called,  that,  namely,  which  is  not 
a  mere  forensic  plea.  The  modes  of  attack  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  position  of  the  assailants,  and  it  is  very 
interesting  to  analyse,  as  it  were,  the  coalition  formed 
by  the  opponents  of  Christianity,  in  order  to  discover 
the  various  currents  which  thus  mingle  and  become  one. 
The  objections  of  the  philosophers  were  stated  in  the 
form  of  treatises,  fragments  of  which  have  come  down 
to  us.  These  therefore  can  easily  be  known  ;  but  apart 
from  this  systematic  and  studied  opposition,  there  was 
yet  another,  which  represented  the  current  opinion 
of  the  cultivated  classes,  and  must  be  distinguished 
from  mere  popular  invective.  Of  this  we  find  the 
scattered  expression  in  the  writings  of  the  apologists 
of  the  Church,  and  we  must  endeavour  to  combine 
these  fragmentary  hints,  if  we  desire  to  comprehend 
aright  the  various  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  Chris- 
*  Tschimcr,  "  Gesch.  der  Apol.,"  223-225. 
20 


442  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tianity.  The  dialogue  of  Minutius  Felix,  which  places 
before  us  a  pagan  of  the  middle  class  ignorant  of  all 
philosophy,  gives  us  much  valuable  information  as  to  the 
opinions  that  might  at  that  time  be  entertained  of  the 
new  religion,  by  those  who  were  neither  priests  nor 
schoolmen.  Caecilius,  the  opponent  of  the  Christian 
querist, -represents  perfectly  the  man  of  the  world,  who 
belongs  to  the  craft  neither  of  priest  nor  writer,  but  who 
has  derived  his  convictions  or  his  prejudices  from  the 
social  atmosphere  of  his  age.  We  must  not  look  for 
much  logic  from  him  ;  he  often  expresses  ideas  contra- 
dictory of  each  other ;  but  they  all  tend  to  the  same 
conclusion — the  rejection  of  Christianity. 

The  language  of  the  cultivated  pagan  betrays  at  once 
great  moral  and  intellectual  enervation.  We  are  con- 
scious that  he  does  not  belong  to  an  age  of  bold 
speculation,  in  which  the  mind  of  man  is  bent  on 
investigating  and  explaining  everything.  Nor  does 
he  belong  to  an  age  of  simple  trust,  in  which  all  that 
is  marvellous  and  poetical  inspires  faith  and  fervour. 
We  are  not  dealing  with  childhood  in  its  candour,  nor 
with  youth  in  its  enthusiasm.  Here  is  doubt  mingled 
with  superstition ;  a  prudent  scepticism  which  dares 
not  be  true  to  its  own  consequences,  which  suddenly 
pauses  on  its  path,  to  bow  down  before  the  first  idol 
it  meets,  provided  only  the  idol  be  of  venerable  antiquity. 
Let  us  not  be  misled.  That  genuflexion  is  not  an  act 
of  mere  hypocrisy,  performed  simply  to  deceive  the 
spectators.  No;  it  is  a  sincere  act.  The  soul  has  not 
strength  enough  either  to  doubt  or  to  believe  thoroughly  ; 
it  cannot  rest  either  in  negation  or  in  faith;  it  vacillates 
between  the  two,  or  rather  it  combines  and  associates 
both.  At  heart  there  is  no  faith  in  the  existence 
of  religious  truth,  and  yet  the  alternative  of  a  frank  and 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        443 

decided  atheism  is  rejected.  Probability  is  put  in  the 
place  of  certainty,  and  from  this  it  is  an  easy  step 
to  substitute  antiquity  for  truth ;  for  let  inherent 
grounds  for  belief  be  disallowed,  and  the  balance  of  pro- 
bability is  on  the  side  of  that  which  is  old.  Tradition 
is  the  crutch  of  halting  creeds,  which  are  no  longer 
able  to  support  themselves.  Thus  we  shall  find  Crecilius, 
after  avowing  absolute  scepticism,  casting  himself  with 
closed  eyes  into  the  arms  of  the  religion  of  his  fathers. 
If  such  a  course  seems  full  of  self-contradiction,  it  is 
from  an  intellectual,  not  from  a  moral  point  of  view, 
for  moral  feebleness  preventing  solid  convictions,  is  per- 
fectly in  harmony  with  the  cowardly  desertion  of 
received  opinions.  Csecilius  acts  in  one  and  the  same 
spirit,  whether  he  expresses  universal  doubt  or  makes 
an  unreserved  surrender  to  the  gods  of  his  country.  The 
bold  affirmations  of  Christianity  are  as  repugnant  to  him 
as  its  hardy  negations.  This  diseased  soul,  loving  its 
sickness,  and,  better  still,  its  ease,  shrinks  from  the  manly 
effort  needed  in  order  to  grasp  a  new  truth  or  to  reject 
old  error.  "  How  great  is  the  distance,"  says  Caecilius, 
"between  human  weakness  and  the  divine  things  we 
inquire  into  !  *  We  cannot  know  either  that  which 
is  far  above  our  heads  in  the  heavens,  nor  far  beneath 
our  feet  in  the  lowest  deeps.  Such  knowledge  is  for- 
bidden to  man,  and  it  would  be  impious  to  seek  to  attain 
to  it.  Of  two  things,  one  :  either  truth,  ever  uncertain, 
is  veiled  and  hidden  from  us ;  or  (which  is  more 
credible), fortune,  unfettered  by  any  law,  governs  accord- 
ing to  its  own  fitful  caprice,  "t  This  convenient  scepticism 

*  "  Cum  tantum  absit  ab  explorationc  divina  humana,  mediocri- 
tas  !"     (Minutius  Felix,  "  Octav."  v.) 

1  "  Adeo  aut  incerta  nobis  Veritas  occultatur  et  premitur  ;  aut, 
quod  magis  credendum  est,  variis  et  lubricis  casibus,  soluta  legibus, 
fortuna  dominatur."     (Ibid.) 


444  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

does  not  inspire  toleration  even  in  Ca^cilius;  the  blasS 
pagan  is  irritated  by  the  presence  at  his  side  of  men 
who  claim  to  resolve  the  great  questions  which  weary 
him,  and  he  is  especially  indignant  that  some  men 
without  culture,  strangers  to  letters,  pursuing  menial 
callings,  should  dare  to  speak  with  absolute  certainty 
of  the  first  principle  of  all  things,  unappalled  by  the 
majesty  of  the  theme,  while  philosophy,  after  the  lapse 
of  so  many  ages,  and  the  tentative  systems  of  so  many 
schools,  still  utters  dubious  oracles  on  the  subject.* 

It  might  be  imagined  that,  starting  from  such  a  point 
as  this,  Csecilius  would  be  logically  led  to  include 
paganism  in  the  same  sweeping  anathema  with 
Christianity,  but  he  obeys  dialectic  laws  of  a  peculiar 
kind,  which  rest  on  a  logic  of  feeling  rather  than 
of  thought.  He  has  not  the  force  of  character 
required  to  make  a  man  consistent  with  himself,  at 
the  risk  of  compromising  ease  and  comfort.  His 
logic  fails  because  his  courage  fails,  and  after  a  lofty 
tirade  against  those  who  pretend  to  possess  certainty 
in  matters  of  religion,  he  himself  pays  his  devout 
homage  to  the  religion  in  which  he  was  born.  He  says  : 
"  Since  there  is  nothing  certain  in  nature  except 
chance,  is  not  the  tradition  of  our  fathers  the  best  and 
most  venerable  guide  we  can  follow  in  the  pursuit 
of  truth  ?  Let  us  cleave  to  the  religion  they  have 
transmitted  to  us ;  let  us  worship  the  gods  we  have 
been  accustomed  to  worship  from  our  childhood,  gods 
which  are  familiar  to  us,  and  let  us  beware  of  enter- 
ing into  discussions  about  them."t     Caecilius,  though 

*  "  Indignandum  audere  quosdam  et  hoc  studiorum  rudes,  litc- 
rarum  profanos,  certum  aliquid  de  summa  rerum  et  majestate 
decerncre."     (Minutius  Felix,  "Octav.,"  v.) 

f  "  Ouanto  venerabilius  ac  melius  antistitem  veritatis  majorum 
excipere  disciplinam  ?  religiones  traditas  colere?"     (Ibid.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        445 

he  again  expresses  on  several  occasions  his  impious 
doubts,  nevertheless  presents  a  utilitarian  apology  for 
paganism  ;  he  proves  from  history  that  prosperity  has 
never  come  to  those  who  have  forsaken  paganism.  His 
argument  amounts  to  this  :  Nothing  can  be  less  certain 
than  the  foundations  of  the  ancient  faiths,  but  since, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  proved  that  they  are 
absolutely  false,  and  since  they  seem  to  have  conduced 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  the  safest  plan  is  to 
hold  by  them.  Clearly  such  an  adherence  as  this 
to  paganism  is  the  last  term  of  scepticism,  which, 
having  doubted  all  else,  concludes  by  doubting  itself. 
If  at  the  outset,  the  pagan  showed  irritation  at  the 
strong  affirmations  of  Christianity,  he  now  maligns 
it  because  it  undermines  the  base  of  the  worm-eaten 
edifice  of  the  ancient  religions.  "  Since  all  nations," 
says  Caecilius,  "  agree  to  recognise  immortal  gods, 
though  a  cloud  of  mystery  conceals  their  origin  and 
nature,  I  cannot  endure,  amidst  this  universal  consent 
of  mankind,  the  audacity  or  impious  wisdom  of  these 
innovators,  who  seek  to  overthrow  or  to  enfeeble 
a  religion  so  old,  so  useful,  so  salutary .*  One  is  compelled 
to  groan  at  the  sight  of  a  league  formed  against  the 
gods,  by  men  belonging  to  a  miserable,  illegal,  accursed 
sect,  men  who  make  disciples  of  the  lowest  of  the  people, 
of  silly  credulous  women,  easily  misled,  if  only  because 
of  their  sex.  Thus  is  formed  an  impious  conspiracy. "t 
Caecilius  repeats,  with  additions,  the  common  calumnies 
about  the  nightly  assemblies  of  the  Christians  ;  he  thus 
himself  unblushingly  exhibits  a  credulity  more  senseless 

*  "  Hanc  religionem  tarn  vctustam,  tarn  utilem,  tarn  salubrcm, 
dissolvcrc."     iMinutius  Felix,  "  Octav.,"  ix.i 

f  "  Homines  deplorataj,  illicitae  ac  desperate  factionis  grassari 
in  dcos."     (Ibid.) 


446  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

than  that  of  any  woman  in  the  world,  and  shows  how 
passion  can  stultify  a  naturally  acute  and  discerning 
spirit. 

The  blending  of  scepticism  and  of  servility  which 
characterises  this  man,  who  evidently  occupied  a  good 
position  in  Roman  society,  wras  doubtless  common  to 
many  of  his  contemporaries,  for  it  belongs  to  every  age. 
Many  are  always  found  ready  to  profess  a  graceful 
doubt, "without  formally  breaking  with  religion,  and  while 
fully  counting  on  its  support  in  case  of  extremity.  The 
pagan  priests  had  no  surer  auxiliaries  than  these  pru- 
dent philosophers.  They  knew  that  such  philosophers 
were  sure  to  return  to  them  at  last ;  and  that,  be  their  life 
what  it  might,  in  death  they  would  cling  to  the  priests, 
not  from  any  mere  human  reverence,  but  prompted  by 
that  fear  of  the  unknown,  which  the  soul  is  not  strong 
enough  to  brave  alone  in  the  last  assaults. 

After  reproaching  the  Christians  with  believing  in 
a  new  God,  and  overthrowing  the  national  religion, 
Caecilius  proceeds  to  an  examination  of  their  doctrines. 
It  is  at  once  obvious  that  he  is  but  ill-acquainted  with 
them,  and  has  no  appreciation  of  their  connection 
or  inner  meaning.  His  judgment  of  them  is  dictated 
by  the  most  superficial  notions.  He  does  not  rise  for 
a  moment  above  his  low  and  earthly  point  of  view. 
Sceptic  as  he  is,  he  does  not  concern  himself  at  all  with 
the  nature  of  things,  with  the  adaptation  of  a  doctrine 
to  the  conditions  of  man's  mind  or  soul.  He  has  no 
faith  in  truth  itself;  he  does  not  ask,  therefore,  if  a 
belief  is  true  and  reasonable,  but  simply  if  it  can  boast 
of  that  which  attracts  the  eye — strength,  brilliancy, 
popularity,  success ;  it  is  from  this  outer  side  alone 
that  he  judges.  Thus,  when  he  approaches  the  grand 
idea  of  the  Divine  unity,  he  does  not  inquire,  like  the 


BOOK    III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.        447 

illustrious  philosophers  of  antiquity,  if  it  is  well-founded 
on  grounds  that  reason  and  conscience  approve.  These 
considerations  appear  to  him  supremely  indifferent. 
Listen  to  his  words  :  "Where  is  He,"  he  asks;  "this 
one,  sole,  forsaken  God  ?*  What  republic,  what  king- 
dom has  acknowledged  Him  ?  He  has  not  even  found 
an  asylum  in  Roman  superstition."  A  solitary  and  de- 
serted God  cannot  be  a  true  God  :  this  alone  is  enough 
to  condemn  him.  The  pagan  cannot  heap  enough 
ridicule  on  the  idea  of  a  Providence  without  which 
nothing  can  happen.  Such  a  deity  he  stigmatises  as 
importunate,  and  curious  even  to  insolence ;  and  he 
asks  how,  while  watching  over  the  whole,  He  could 
occupy  himself  with  the  details  ;  or  how,  while  absorbed 
in  minutiae,  He  could  watch  the  course  of  the  universe  ? 
The  Christian  religion,  thus  held  accursed  by  the 
world,  pronounces,  in  return,  a  curse  upon  the  world, 
and  proclaims  its  approaching  destruction  in  the  flames 
of  a  terrible  fire,  while  it  promises  a  resurrection  to  its 
own  followers.  "  Two-fold  folly  !  "  exclaims  Caecilius, 
faithful  to  his  materialistic  scepticism,  which  can  never 
pass  the  limits  of  visible  realities.  "  The  Christians 
proclaim  an  end  to  the  sky  and  stars,  which  abide  when 
we  are  gone,  and  they  promise  eternity  to  their  dead,  to 
beings  born  to  perish. "t  It  is  the  immortality  of  the 
individual  which  shocks  the  pagan.  He  only  mentions, 
that  he  may  set  it  aside,  the  moral  argument  derived 
from  the  Divine  justice,  to  which  it  must  be  impossible 
finally  to  treat  alike  the  guilty  and  the  innocent  ;  and 
he   concludes   his   arguments  against  the  resurrection, 

0  "  Unde  autem  est.  quis  ille.  aut  ubi  ?  Deus  unicus,  solitarius, 
"destitutus."     (Minutius  Felix,  "  Octav.,"  x.) 

f  "Gemina  dementia!  Ccelo  et  astris  qu-e  sic  relinquimus  ut 
invenimus    internum  denunciare,  sibi  mortuis  aeternitatem  repro- 

mittere."     (Ibid.,  xi.) 


448      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

or,  more  properly  speaking,  against  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  with  these  words,  worthy  of  an  Epicurean  :  "  So 
many  generations  have  followed  each  other,  so  many 
ages  have  rolled  away,  and  who  has  ever  come  back 
from  the  tomb?"*  To  such  a  man  immediate  success 
is  the  sole  criterion  of  the  good  and  the  true.  A  reli- 
gion which  brings  in  its  train  a  long  series  of  humilia- 
tions and  sufferings,  which  has  the  cross  for  its  symbol, 
and  the  track  of  which  can  be  traced  by  the  blood 
of  its  votaries,  is  necessarily  to  him  a  false  religion. 
Csecilius  cannot  conceive  of  a  God  in  whose  sight  the 
vanquished  cause  may  be  after  all  the  right.  "Where," 
he  asks,  "  is  that  God  who  can  bring  succour  to  the 
dead,  while  He  does  nothing  for  the  living  ?  Do  not  the 
Romans  rule  and  reign  without  Him  ?  Do  they  not 
govern  the  world  and  you  yourselves  ?  "t 

To  one  who  thus  regards  suffering  as  a  curse  and 
shame,  austerity  could  not  appear  other  than  a  crime. 
Accordingly,  Csecilius  has  only  indignant  words  for 
the  morality  of  the  Christians.  "You  abstain,"  he 
cries,  "from  lawful  pleasures;  you  eschew  feasts  and 
shows  and  public  rejoicings.  You  will  not  crown  your 
heads  with  flowers, %  you  use  no  perfumes  to  anoint 
your  bodies.  Pale-faced  tremblers, §  you  call  indeed 
for  pity  !  Miserable  men,  who  will  find  there  is  no 
resurrection  and  who  refuse  to  live  now !  ||  Cease  at 
length  to  interrogate  the  Lord  of  the  heavens.  Be 
content  with  looking  to  your  feet."^[  Caecilius  concludes 
by  parodying  the  saying  of  Socrates :  "  That  which  is 

*  Minutius  Felix,  "  Octav.,"  xi. 

f  "  Ubi  Deus  ille  qui  subvenire  reviviscentibus  potest,  viventibus 
non  potest?"  (Ibid.,  xii.)         I  "Non  floribus  caput  nectitis."  (Ibid.) 
§  "  Pallidi,  trepidi."     (Ibid.) 

||  "  Ita  nee  resurgitis,  miseri,  nee  interim  vivitis."     (Ibid.) 
II  "Satis  est  pro  pedibus  adspicere."     (Ibid.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.       449 

above  us  is  not  for  us."*  The  judgment  passed  upon 
Christianity  by  this  pagan,  vindicates,  by  its  utter  want 
of  comprehension,  that  great  word  of  the  Master:  "  I 
am  from  above,  ye  are  from  below."  In  truth,  the  new 
religion,  regarded  from  below,  must  necessarily  appear 
in  this  absurd  light.  We  catch  in  the  tones  of  Caecilius  an 
echo  of  the  mocking  laugh  which  interrupted  Paul  on  the 
Areopagus,  when  he  began  to  speak  of  the  resurrection. 
Caecilius  was  called  Legion,  and  he  has  initiated  us  into 
the  current  ideas  of  the  cultivated  class  of  his  time. 

Christianity  encountered  even  more  deadly  opposition 
among  the  Jews  than  among  the  pagans. t  The  treatise, 
"  Ad  Judasos,"  ascribed  to  Tertullian,  and  the  Dialogue 
of  Justin  with  Trypho,  give  us  an  insight  into  the 
polemics  of  the  synagogue.  The  principal  points  were 
three.  First,  the  Jews  reproached  the  Christians  with 
abandoning  or  rejecting  the  glorious  institutions  of  the 
Mosaic  economy,  and  with  thus  uniting  themselves  with 
paganism.  "  That  which  most  astonishes  us,"  they 
said,  "  is  that  you,  who  pretend  to  exceptional  piety, 
differ  in  nothing  from  the  pagans.  You  observe  neither 
feasts  nor  sabbaths ;  you  have  no  circumcision  ;  you 
flatter  yourselves  that  you  please  God  by  neglecting  all 
His  commands. "t  In  the  second  place,  the  Jews,  while 
admitting  that  the  prophets  had  indeed  foretold  a 
Messiah,  would  not  acknowledge  that  these  prophecies 
found  their  fulfilment  in  Christ.  His  lowliness  was 
repellent  to  them.§     They  turned  to  their  sacred  books, 

*  "Ouod  supra  nos,  nihil  ad  nos."  (Minutius  Felix,  "Octav./'xiii.) 

t  See  Tschirner,  "Gesch.  der  Apol.,"  181-189. 

£  ()/•<"'  hnWaaatrt  airb  rStv  iBvStv  tov  vfikrepov  3iov  opcog  kX-n-'i^re 
rfvkaaTai  ayaOov  tivoq  irapa  tov  titov  pi)  7roiouvrc(;  clvtov  rar  tvroXdg. 
(Justin,  "  Dial,  cum  Tryph.,"  227.1 

§  •■  Non  et  nunc  adventum  ejus  expectant,  nee  alia  magis  inter 
nos  et  illos  compulsatio  est,  quam  quod  jam  venisse  non  credunt." 
ffeitullian,  "Apologia,"  xxi.) 


450  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  gave  special  prominence  to  the  oracle  which 
declared  that  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  should  be 
preceded  by  the  return  of  Elias.  They  appealed  also  to 
the  brilliant  representations  given  in  the  Old  Testament 
of  the  age  of  Messiah,  and  compared  with  these  glowing 
pictures  the  sorrowful  circumstances  of  the  life  and 
death  of  Christ.  "  Instead  of  being  arrayed  in  glory," 
they  said,  "  your  pretended  Christ  is  so  covered  with 
reproach  and  dishonour  that  He  has  fallen  under  the 
most  accursed  penalty  of  the  Divine  law,  being  put  to 
death  on  the  cross."*"  The  Jews  thus  laid  their  own 
crime  to  the  charge  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and 
true  to  their  materialistic  theocracy,  rejected  Him 
on  the  ground  of  His  sufferings,  as  if  these  had  not 
been  foretold  by  Isaiah  the  prophet.  Finally,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Divinity  of  Christ  clashed  with  their 
rigid  monotheism.  They  could  not  admit  that  He 
was  God  with  God,  as  the  Fourth  Gospel  expressed 
it.t  Such  were  their  principal  objections,  diversified 
indefinitely  by  the  subtlety  of  their  minds  and  the 
cunning  arguments  of  their  rabbis.  They  attacked, 
not  unskilfully,  the  exegetical  interpretations  of  the 
Old  Testament  current  in  the  Church,  and  impugned 
the  credibility  of  the  Gospel  narrative. 


§  II.  Polemics  of  the  Philosophers  in  opposition  to 
Christianity . 

(a.)  Lncian  of  Samosata. 

Every  one  of  the  various  schools  which  exercised 
an  influence  on  pagan  society  made  an  attack  upon 
Christianity   from    its    own    special    standpoint,    and 

*  'EffravpujOr]  yap.   (Justin,  p.  249.  Compare  p.  317.)         f  Ibid.,  274. 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.       451 

the  Church  was  thus  called  upon  to  defend  itself 
against  adversaries  of  every  description.  Impious 
Epicureanism,  proud  Platonism,  oriental  theosophy, 
and  the  subtle  and  mystical  pantheism  of  Alexandria, 
— each  in  turn  battered  on  the  breach ;  and  the 
purer  the  paganism,  the  more  bitter  and  zealous 
was  the  antagonism  to  Christianity.  No  rivalry 
could  by  possibility  exist  between  cynical  atheism 
and  Christian  spirituality,  as  war  is  not  likely 
to  break  out  between  nations  placed  at  the  two  ex- 
tremities of  the  world.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
Neo-Platonism  and  Christianity,  deep  and  radical  as 
were  their  differences,  both  offered  a  response  to  the 
same  aspirations,  and  the  philosophers  of  Alexandria 
knew  well  that  they  could  not  achieve  the  moral 
conquest  of  the  world,  unless  they  supplanted  the 
adherents  of  the  new  religion.  Therefore  Porphyry, 
a  man  of  far  higher  type  than  Lucian,  will  be  a  much 
more  determined  enemy  of  the  Church  ;  but  his  very 
hostility  does  honour  to  the  Church,  since  it  shows 
that  he  has  a  true  appreciation  of  its  power,  while 
the  contemptuous  cynic  confounds  it  in  scorn  with 
the  low  superstitions  of  his  time,  on  which  he  heaps 
his  merciless  mockery. 

In  order  rightly  to  comprehend  the  attitude  of 
Lucian  with  regard  to  Christianity,  we  must  have 
some  idea  of  his  opinions  on  religion  in  general,  for 
Christianity  is  to  him  only  one  particular  form  of 
religious  folly,  and  he  does  not  accord  to  it  even  the 
distinction  of  a  more  marked  opposition,  or  of  more 
bitter  irony.  We  can  conceive  that  the  men  who  were 
not  carried  away  by  the  reaction  of  paganism,  and 
who  had  preserved  their  freedom  of  thought  in  this 
unparalleled    irruption    of    the    superstitions    of   every 


452  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

land,  would  find  abundant  matter  for  ridicule  in  the 
strange  spectacle  presented  at  that  time  by  the  Greco- 
Roman  world.  Like  a  guest  who  has  retained  the  cool 
use  of  his  faculties  in  the  midst  of  a  scene  of  riotous 
feasting,  these  men  were  at  once  disgusted  and  amused 
by  the  wild  manifestations  of  the  religious  feeling, 
which  assumed  constantly  more  and  more  grotesque  and 
monstrous  forms.  To  one  who  has  no  comprehension 
of  the  aching  desire  and  infinite  sadness  of  the  human 
soul  at  a  distance  from  God,  there  is  no  comedy  more 
ludicrous  than  that  presented  by  these  great  religious 
crises,  in  which  the  most  visionary  notions  find  a 
favourable  reception,  and  every  impostor  is  sure  of 
success  with  some  minds  influenced  by  hope  and 
desire.  Scorners  have  no  eyes  to  discern  the  element 
of  grandeur  in  all  such  crises,  which  accomplish 
their  mission  of  burying  an  old,  and  giving  birth 
to  a  new  world.  They  see  only  the  incongruity  of 
the  blending  of  expiring  religions,  the  illusions  of 
charlatans  and  magicians  trading  on  public  credulity. 
Their  attention  is  arrested  only  by  the  scenery  of  the 
theatre,  the  strange  costumes  of  the  actors,  and  they 
pay  no  heed  to  the  religious  drama  which  is  being 
enacted  before  their  eyes,  and  of  which  the  most 
important  and  thrilling  crises  always  coincide  with 
those  periods  of  renovation  and  general  expectancy, 
when  the  minds  of  men  are  predisposed  to  all  illusions 
and  chimeras.  A  thin  sardonic  smile  curls  their  lips, 
if  they  are  men  of  taste  and  refinement;  they  laugh, 
with  a  broad  boisterous  laugh,  if  they  are  open  and 
avowed  cynics.  They  are  not  satisfied  with  ridiculing 
the  follies  of  their  own  age  alone ;  they  take  advantage 
of  the  discredit  into  which  the  ancient  faiths  have 
fallen,   to  attack  these   also  without   scruple;   and   as 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        453 

they  put  the  new  or  strange  gods  which  have  obtained 
favour  with  their  contemporaries,  in  the  place  of 
the  old,  they  effectually  serve  the  cause  of  impiety. 
Humanity  has  no  worse  enemies  than  these  pitiless 
scoffers,  who  rejoice  over  every  downfall.  The  de- 
fenders of  the  new  truths  which  come  to  replace  old 
errors,  are  sometimes  tempted  to  seek  support  from 
these  men,  in  their  warfare  with  superstition  and 
prejudice,  and  to  borrow  some  of  the  biting  sarcasms 
flung  at  themselves.  Thus  the  Fathers  more  than 
once  used  the  weapons  of  Lucian  in  their  polemics 
with  paganism.  It  was  the  worst  policy,  for  Lucian, 
like  all  his  class,  was  not  satisfied  with  rooting  out 
the  weeds  from  the  field  ;  he  carried  away  with  them 
the  fruitful  soil.  He  destroyed  not  superstition  only, 
but  the  very  faculty  of  faith.  The  human  soul,  when 
he  has  breathed  upon  it,  resembles  a  desolate  region 
sown  with  salt ;  true,  no  more  weeds  appear,  but 
absolute  barrenness  reigns  in  their  stead.  There  is  one 
thing  more  deplorable  than  believing  in  error,  and 
that  is  to  believe  in  nothing ;  this  is  the  essential  error, 
the  fundamental  aberration  of  the  soul,  the  invincible 
obstacle  to  truth.  In  our  opinion,  therefore,  Lucian 
did  more  harm  to  Christianity  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  undermined  pagan  superstitions,  than  by  his  direct 
attacks.  Such  a  man  was  the  most  formidable  of 
all  foes,  even  when  he  was  destroying  that  which 
Christianity  also  aimed  to  destroy,  because  he  des- 
troyed at  the  same  time  that  which  is  the  starting- 
point  of  all  truth,  that  which  may  be  called  the 
elementary  religious  feeling — the  care  for  eternal 
things,  the  thirst  for  the  infinite  and  the  divine.  We 
shall  not  confine  our  observations  to  those  of  his 
writings  alone  which  assail  Christianity;  we  shall  cha- 


454  THE   EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

racterise  the  whole  of  his  works,  because  there  is 
scarcely  a  page  which  is  not  an  insult  to  religion  in 
itself.  We  shall  convincingly  show  that  Christianity  is 
never  justified  in  seeking  pioneers  or  allies  from  the  seat 
of  the  scornful  ;  it  will  find  its  true  supporters,  not 
among  those  to  whom  human  misery  is  a  jest,  but 
among  those  who  mourn  and  weep.  The  voice  that 
prepares  the  way  of  the  Lord  comes  from  the  desert 
of  conflict,  not  from  the  festal  halls  where  wine-bibbers 
hold  their  impious  revelry. 

Lucian  was  born  at  Samosata,  in  Syria,  in  the  year 
137  after  Christ.  His  long  career  lasted  till  the  com- 
mencement of  the  following  century,  and  he  thus 
witnessed  the  action  of  the  two-fold  impulse,  which 
on  the  one  hand  attracted  the  minds  of  men  to  the 
religion  of  the  future,  and,  on  the  other,  led  them  back 
to  the  worst  superstitions  of  the  past.  He  travelled 
so  much  both  in  the  East  and  West,  that  he  had 
opportunities  of  observing  all  the  eccentricities  of  his 
generation.  No  man  was  better  acquainted  than  Lucian 
with  the  age  in  which  he  lived — if  indeed  that  can  be 
truly  called  acquaintance  writh  the  age,  which  consisted 
in  seeing  only  its  ridiculous  or  scandalous  side,  and 
ignoring  all  its  deeper  and  higher  impulses.  Gifted 
with  a  quick  and  biting  wit,  saved  from  the  prejudicial 
influence  of  the  rhetoricians  by  his  genius  for  satire, 
and  raised  above  vulgarity  by  the  elegance  and  polish 
of  his  style,  Lucian  knew  how  to  give  artistic  value 
even  to  the  wildest  licence  of  his  impure  imagina- 
tion. He  chose  in  his  Lucius,  in  his  Dialogues 
of  Courtesans,  and  in  his  Dialogue  of  the  Loves, 
to  grovel  in  the  vilest  mire  of  paganism.  An  avowed 
Epicurean,  ignoring  every  notion  of  morality,  desirous 
solely    to    please    and    to    amuse,    he    took    delight    in 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        455 

drawing  those  licentious  pictures,  which  are  read  with 
avidity  in  times  of  moral  turpitude.  These  infamous 
pages  occupy  in  literature  the  place  which  certain 
frescoes  from  Pompeii  occupy  in  art ;  they  are  the 
emblazoned  advertisements  of  sin  and  degradation. 
This  vein  of  impurity,  running  through  all  the  writings 
of  Lucian,  does  not  suffice,  unhappily,  to  impart  to  them 
a  marked  originality  of  character,  for  it  is  to  be  traced 
in  almost  all  the  writers  of  the  Decline.  That  by 
which  he  is  mainly  distinguished  is  what  may  be  called 
his  universal  impiety,  his  contempt  of  all  greatness, 
goodness,  or  glory.  He  was  the  most  accomplished 
disciple  of  the  nil  admirari  school.  If  we  except  a  few 
thoughtful  and  sensible  pages  on  the  manner  of  writing 
history,  in  which  he  argues  very  ingeniously  against 
the  oratorical  style,  and  represents  the  office  of  history 
to  be  simply  that  of  a  polished  and  brilliant  mirror, 
reflecting  objective  facts — a  theory  eloquently  developed 
by  an  illustrious  writer  of  our  day  ;  if  we  except,  again, 
some  elevated  views  of  a  sound  philosophy,  in  the 
Dialogue  of  Hermotinus,*  the  whole  of  Lucian's  works 
appear  as  one  continuous  and  cruel  strain  of  mockery, 
charming  and  sparkling  enough  when  directed  at  follies 
and  absurdities  which  deserve  to  be  ridiculed,  but 
unjust  and  calumnious,  when  aimed  at  other  subjects, 
and  in  all  cases  alike  the  expression  of  a  malicious  and 
ungenerous  spirit.  When  he  flings  his  merciless  jests 
at  the  rhetoricians — those  traders  in  words  who  sell  only 
adulterated  food,  tricked  out  with  much  spicery;  when 
he  denounces,  in  his  Alexander,  the  rogueries  of  the 
magicians,  and  betrays  some  of  the  impositions  of  their 
allies,  the  priests,  one  cannot  but  approve.     His  ruling 

*  M.  Talbot,  page  7  of  his  Introduction  to  Lucian,  appears  to 
us  to  attach  too  great  importance  to  these  words. 


456  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

ambition,  however,  is  not  to  be  a  clever  comedist  and 
an  acute  critic ;  his  great  aim  is,  we  repeat,  to  subvert 
all  greatness,  human  or  divine  ;  it  is  to  sap  or  sully 
all  admiration  ;  it  is  to  destroy  with  the  idol,  every 
thought  of  the  divine,  to  overthrow  with  superstition, 
all  faith  in  a  higher  world,  to  annihilate  philosophy  no 
less  than  sophistry.  The  true  object  of  his  hatred 
is  the  ideal — everything  that  lies  beyond  the  realities 
of  earth,  everything  that  stirs  the  soul  of  man,  every- 
thing that  makes'  him  feel  after  and  seek  anything  but 
pleasure,  everything  that  breaks  in  upon  the  voluptuous 
revelry  of  the  senses,  the  highest  life  of  the  Epicurean. 
His  attacks  upon  paganism  are  animated  by  the  same 
spirit.  He  has  a  two-bladed  sword:  with  the  one  blade 
he  strikes  at  superstition;  the  other  he  plunges  deep 
into  the  noblest  fibres  of  the  heart.  Lucian's  work 
may  be  compared  to  the  immortal  poem  of  Dante,  for 
its  breadth  and  variety  of  subject  ;  it  is  a  gigantic 
comedy  embracing  three  worlds;  but  there  is  nothing 
divine  in  it,  and  it  rings  only  with  bitter  and  insulting 
laughter.  It  is  not  Virgil,  the  poet  of  sacred  sorrow, 
who  acts  as  guide  to  the  implacable  scorner,  as  to  the 
great  Florentine;  it  is  Diogenes,  or  Menippus  the  cynic, 
whose  envenomed  tooth  fastens  on  all  that  has  been 
held  worthy  of  honour,  adoration,  and  respect,  in  earth 
and  heaven.  Let  us  rapidly  follow  his  footsteps  through 
the  circles  of  the  pagan  world  ;  we  shall  then  com- 
prehend the  judgment  passed  by  such  a  man  upon 
Christianity. 

The  Dialogues  of  the  Dead  are  devoted  to  a  review 
of  all  the  glories  of  ancient  Greece.  The  heroes  of 
fable,  as  well  as  the  princes  of  fame,  pass  successively 
before  the  cynic,  and  not  one  escapes  the  brand. 
Achilles,  Ajax,  Agamemnon,  are  shorn  of  their  vaunted 


BOOK    III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.        457 

valour.  Alexander  is  dragged  to  the  gemoniae.  Poetic 
and  historic  greatness  are  alike  made  victims.  Lucian 
finds  a  keen  delight  in  rending  the  shining  veils  of 
Homeric  poetry,  which  enveloped  the  heroic  and 
fabulous  commencement  of  the  history  of  Greece,  as 
the  empurpled  clouds  enshroud  the  landscape  at  the 
dawning.  Lucian  dispels  with  a  breath  all  these 
visions  of  enchantment.  "  Know,"  says  Euphorbus, 
the  old  Trojan  hero,  when  speaking  of  the  grand 
epopee  of  Homer, — "  know  that  there  was  nothing 
in  reality  so  marvellous.  Ajax  was  not  so  great,  nor 
Helen  so  beautiful,  as  you  have  been  led  to  think."* 
Tn  one  of  his  cleverest  dialogues,  a  man  named 
Mycellus,  transformed  into  a  cock,  rouses  an  unfor- 
tunate sleeper  from  the  most  delicious  dream  by  his 
piercing  cries  :  such  is  the  part  played  by  Lucian  with 
regard  to  Greece,  which  had  so  long  been  held  under 
a  poetic  spell  by  the  legends  of  its  heroic  age.  The 
words  which  the  satirist  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the 
poor  awakened  dreamer  apply  perfectly  to  himself. 
"Bird  of  ill-omen,  with  the  sharp  shrill  voice,"  exclaims 
the  sleeper,  "  thou  hast  awaked  me  out  of  a  dream 
of  bliss.  May  Jupiter  confound  thee  !"t  Jupiter  has 
too  much  to  do  to  ward  off  the  darts  of  raillery 
aimed  at  himself,  to  think  of  confounding  any  offender 
whatsoever.  The  heroes  are  treated  with  moderation 
compared  with  the  deities.  In  the  Dialogues  upon  the 
gods  they  are  depicted  in  the  most  grotesque  colours. 
At  one  time  we  are  made  spectators  of  a  domestic 
quarrel  between  Juno  and  Jupiter;  the  latter  appears 
as  an  old  libertine,  irritable  and  weak,  the  sport  of  the 
vilest  passions.    Venus  is  made  to  reproach  Cupid  with 

*  'Eyio    di  ToaovTov  001   (pljf-U   v7rop<pvt<;  fxitfiv  ytvicrOai  rork.     (Lucian, 
Didot  Edit.,  498.)  f  Ibid.,  491. 

30 


45§  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

all  his  irreverences  towards  the  father  of  the  gods,  and 
asks  how  he  could  dare  to  instigate  Jupiter  to  the  most 
shameless  actions,  the  most  degrading  metamorphoses. 
Has  not  the  great  god  been  seen  to  assume,  in  turn,  the 
horns  of  the  bull  and  the  wings  of  the  swan  or  of  the 
eagle  ?  Has  he  not  even  been  known  to  transform  himself 
into  a  shower  of  gold  ?  Esculapius  and  Hercules  fight 
like  twro  gladiators  in  their  cups,  and  Olympus  displays 
all  the  allurements  of  a  resort  of  doubtful  fame.  The 
vein  of  satire  which  runs  through  all  Lucian's  treatment 
of  the  gods,  is  especially  manifest  in  two  dialogues, 
entitled  the  Tragic  Jupiter  and  Jupiter  Confounded. 
The  former  is  his  master-piece.  We  give  a  rapid 
analysis  of  it,  because  it  shows  so  admirably  what  was 
the  spirit  in  which  its  author  assailed  the  ancient 
beliefs  of  his  country. 

A  dispute  is  supposed  to  have  arisen  at  Athens  about 
the  gods.  Their  cause  is  to  be  solemnly  pleaded 
before  the  whole  people.  Hence  there  is  a  lively  stir 
in  Olympus.  Jupiter  is  in  great  alarm,  for  the  advocate 
to  whom  is  confided  the  cause  of  the  gods  is  none  of 
the  strongest,  and  on  the  success  of  his  pleading 
depends  the  support  of  the  immortals,  who,  if  he  fails, 
may  find  a  dearth  of  incense  and  fat  things.  Jupiter 
makes  bitter  lamentation,  and  in  the  excess  of  his 
terror,  speaks  in  verse  like  a  tragic  actor.  Juno, 
who  sees  him  in  extreme  agitation,  says  to  him  sharply, 
"  I  perceive,  father,  that  thou  hast  some  new  love  in 
thy  head."  Jupiter  puts  her  to  silence  by  uttering 
these  significant  words:  "The  affairs  of  the  gods  are 
at  the  worst."-  The  discussion  between  the  Stoic 
Timocles  and  the  Epicurean  Damis,  is  fraught  with 
terrible  danger  for  Olympus.     What   can   be    done   in 

#  'Ev  trrxdroig  ra  OiuiP  7rpayfiar<i .      (Lucian,  Dldot   Edit.,  474-) 


BOOK   III.— THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.         459 

self-defence  ?  The  general  council  of  the  gods  is 
convoked.  They  assemble  tumultuously,  clamouring 
for  nectar  and  ambrosia.-  Jupiter  explains  the  state 
of  the  case.  Strange  to  say,  the  Epicurean  finds  an 
unexpected  ally  in  Olympus.  Momus,  his  worthy 
patron,  declares  that  he  shares  the  ideas  of  Damis. 
He  reproaches  the  gods  with  their  heedlessness  in 
leaving  good  men  in  misfortune,  while  the  wicked 
triumph.  "  Let  us  own,"  he  says,  "  that  we  give 
attention  only  when  it  is  to  be  ascertained  whether 
sacrifices  have  been  made  to  us  or  not."t  The  other 
gods  speak  in  their  turn.  Neptune  uses  the  language 
of  brute  force.  "  I  think,"  he  says,  "  that  we  must 
make  an  end  of  this  Damis. "J  Was  not  this  the  great 
argument  of  the  age — that  which  paganism  perpetually 
opposed  to  the  new  religion  ?  Thunder,  water,  any 
means  is  good  in  the  eyes  of  the  sea-god  to  enforce  this 
•conclusive  logic;  it  is  an  expeditious  method  of  disposing 
of  unpleasant  controversies.  "  Thy  counsel  savours  of 
the  tunny,"  Jupiter  replies,  and  addresses  to  Neptune 
this  remarkable  observation  :  "  It  is  a  base  idea  to 
exterminate  an  adversary  before  the  fight,  for  he  dies 
without  being  vanquished,  leaving  the  quarrel  uncertain 
and  pending  still. "§  The  pagan  world  had  done  well 
to  bear-in  mind  this  excellent  maxim  in  its  conduct 
towards  the  Christians.  Apollo  speaks  in  his  turn,  and 
sorrowfully  admits  that  the  advocate  of  the  gods  does 
not  know  how  to  express  himself  with  clearness;  upon 
which  Minos  rallies  him  without  mercy,  as  being  him- 
self the  god  of  ambiguous  oracles.  Hercules  proposes 
*  IToD  at  t.Karofijlai.     (Lucian,  Didot  Edit.,  477.) 

f   T«  c    d\\a  Kara  povv  (jitptrai  ojc;  dv  rvx'l-      (  Ibid.,  481.) 
X  <l>md  Seiv  t'uv  Aa/xiv  tovtov  iK7ro8iov  Troiii<jaa9ai.     (Ibid.) 
§    Kai  KOfudy  ~axv  TrpoavcupiXv  tuv  avTaywviOTijV,  ojq  cnroQdvy  drjTTQTOs, 
a.fi(f>i]pujTov  in  icai  dctaKpirov  KaraXiwojv  tov  Xoyov.      (Ibid.) 


460  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

nothing  less  than  to  hurl  down  in  fragments  on  the 
head  of  the  philosopher  who  thus  troubles  them,  the 
portico  under  which  the  discussion  takes  place.  Jupiter 
observes  that  the  proposed  method  is  too  plebeian. 

The  gods,  having  come  to  an  end  of  their  expedients, 
are  constrained  to  lend  an  ear  to  the  dispute  which  is 
just  commencing  with  great  warmth.  Jupiter  advises 
his  counsel  to  multiply  injurious  epithets.  "Thy 
strength  is  in  slanders,"  he  whispers.*  This  kind  of 
apology  has  been  only  too  keenly  relished  in  every  age. 
The  advocate  of  the  gods,  embarrassed  by  the  objec- 
tions urged  by  his  opponents  against  divine  providence, 
appeals  at  once  to  brute  force.  "  What !  "  he  exclaims 
to  his  hearers,  "you  endure  such  words  as  these,  and 
do  not  stone  the  wretch  ?"t  Damis  objects  very  aptly 
that  to  the  gods  must  be  left  the  charge  of  avenging 
themselves.  The  discussion  on  providence  is  pro- 
longed, but  goes  more  and  more  against  the  champion 
of  Olympus.  In  vain  he  appeals  to  the  order  subsisting 
in  the  world ;  the  Epicurean  replies  that  there  is  no 
evidence  whatever  that  this  is  an  order  established  by 
the  gods ;  the  common  consent  of  the  nations  to  such 
a  doctrine  proves  nothing,  for  their  religious  ideas  are 
full  of  contradictions :  oxen,  monkeys,  and  cats  have 
as  many  worshippers  as  the  Olympic  deities.  He  must 
be  a  fool  indeed  who  would  trust  to  such  lying  oracles, 
and  deem  them  the  utterance  of  the  voice  of  the  gods. 
The  believer  asks  the  sceptic  if  he  has  ever  seen  a  ship 
sailing  over  seas  without  a  pilot  ?  Damis  replies  that 
never  was  ship  with  a  pilot  sO  badly  steered  as  the 
accursed  galley  in  which  they  were  embarked.     Inter- 

*  Lucian,  Didot  Edit.,  485. 

•f-  Tavra  aicovovTeg  avk^iaQt  icai  ov  KaraXtvatTf  rov  6XiTi)piov.  (Ibid., 
485) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.       461 

spersed  through  all  these  polemics  are  the  sarcasms  of 
Momus.  The  gods  comfort  themselves  by  expressing 
the  hope  that  this  unpleasant  colloquy  will  not  be 
heard  of  beyond  the  bounds  of  Attica.  But  Jupiter 
shakes  his  old  head  in  sore  chagrin.  "  I  would  rather," 
he  says,  "  have  one  defender  like  Damis,  than  six 
hundred  orthodox  Babylonians." 

In  this  dialogue,  Lucian  aims  a  blow  not  only  at 
pagan  superstitions,  but  at  that  which  is  the  basis  of 
all  religion, — providence  and  divine  justice ;  beneath 
the  unhealthy  excrescence,  his  lancet  touches  the  very 
centre  of  the  life.  The  dialogue  entitled  "Jupiter 
Confounded,"  presents  similar  features ;  it  is  religion 
in  itself,  rather  than  this  or  that  religious  form,  which 
the  cold-blooded  sceptic  endeavours  to  destroy.  Here 
the  debate  is  not  carried  on  simply  between  two  phi- 
losophers ;  Jupiter  comes  himself  into  direct  issue  with 
a  cynical  philosopher.  The  philosopher  asks  if  it  is  true 
that  necessity  is  above  him,  the  great  god,  and  that  he 
is  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  power  of  the  Fates  ? 
The  majestic  Olympian  is  obliged  to  reply  in  the  affir- 
mative. The  cynic  boldly  concludes  from  this,  that 
men  must  be  very  mad  to  offer  lavish  sacrifices  to  gods 
who  are  no  gods.*  The  Fates  alone  ought  to  be 
worshipped,  since  they  are  the  great  sovereigns  of  the 
world.  Jupiter  objects  that  sacrifices  ought  to  be 
offered  in  gratitude  to  the  gods.  The  philosopher  asks 
what  is  the  ground  for  gratitude  ?  How  are  we  indebted 
for  happiness  to  gods  who  cannot  bestow  it  on  them- 
selves ?  Does  not  everything  happen  by  destiny  ? 
Are  the  gods  aught  else  than  the  docile  ministers  of 
fate  ?    Jupiter,  finding  himself  in  a  difficulty,  calls  down 

*  Ei  iravrutv  at  Moiipai  Kparoum,  t'ivoq  tvaca  vfiiv  oi  dv9pio7rot  Ovofitv. 
(Lucian,  Didot  Edit.,  469.) 


462  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

his  thunders  upon  his  adversary,  who  rejoices  with  a 
smile  that  those  very  thunders  are  not  at  the  god's 
own  disposal,  and  that  he  cannot  cause  them  to  descend 
without  the  permission  of  the  Fates.  He  concludes  by 
jeering  at  the  notion  of  future  punishments.  What 
justice  is  there  in  chastising  crimes  irresponsibly  com- 
mitted? "Minos," -he  says,  "ought  not  to  punish  any, 
for  we  men  do  nothing  of  our  own  volition ;  we  are  sub- 
ject to  the  laws  of  an  inevitable  necessity.  If  any  one 
commits  a  murder,  it  is  destiny  which  commits  it ;  if 
sacrilege,  man  does  but  what  he  must ;  hence  it  follows 
that  if  Minos  will  judge  equitably,  he  should  punish 
destiny  instead  of  Sisyphus,  and  the  fates  in  lieu 
of  Tantalus.  What  wrong,  in  truth,  have  these  men 
done  ?  They  have  but  obeyed  orders."  The  logic 
of  Lucian  is  irreproachable;  the  dogma  of  fatalism  was 
at  the  foundation  of  Hellenic  paganism,  and  the  old 
Egyptian  sphynx  lay  hidden  behind  the  altar  of  the  gods 
of  humanism.  Only  for  a  long  time,  by  a  happy 
breach  of  logic,  the  Greek  genius  had  rebelled  against 
this  crushing  dogma  of  necessity — the  bequest  of  the 
East  to  the  West.  Conscience  had  lifted  up  its  voice, 
moral  freedom  had  asserted  itself,  and  a  purer  religious 
ideal  had  arisen.  In  the  time  of  Lucian  this  was  no 
longer  the  case.  Greece,  in  her  decrepitude,  was 
returning  to  the  bondage  of  her  infancy;  she  was 
bowing  her  neck  again  beneath  the  yoke  of  fatalism, 
inseparable  from  natural  religions.  Lucian  did  not 
fail  to  turn  this  fatal  dogma  to  the  account  of  irre- 
ligion  and  impiety,  and  he  presents  it  without  any 
counterpoise;  he  pushes  it  to  its  farthest  consequences, 
and  proclaims  the  irresponsibility  of  man.  With 
the  freedom  of  the  soul,  he  overturns  the  foundation- 
stone  on  which  all  moral  and  religious  faith  must  rest. 


BOOK    III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.        463 

Philosophy  provoked  his  ridicule  no  less  than  religion. 
Here  again  it  is  not  so  much  any  special  system  which 
he  attacks,  as  that  lofty  aspiration  of  the  human  soul, 
which  struggled  for  expression  in  all  the  schools.  He 
jeers  at  philosophy  in  itself,  that  is,  at  the  desire  and 
research  after  the  highest  truths.  If  he  had  contented 
himself  with  ridiculing  the  inconsistent  philosophers 
of  that  age,  he  would  have  done  nothing  to  call  for 
reproach.  It  is  the  privilege  of  a  writer  of  satire 
to  expose  the  weaknesses  of  men  who  grossly  belie 
their  teaching"  by  their  conduct ;  like  the  philosopher 
represented  in  Timon  of  Athens,  who  preaches  sobriety 
in  the  midst  of  an  orgy,  and  who  is  carried  to  bed  by 
those  whom  he  has  catechised  and  is  still  catechising 
in  his  drunken  state.  The  portrait  drawn  of  this  false 
philosopher  is  full  of  truth  and  humour.  "  Behold," 
he  says,  "the  man  of  sober  attire,  of  modest  bearing, 
who  wears  his  wisdom  on  his  sleeve.  Listen  to  him 
in  the  morning.  How  full  the  stream  of  his  eulogiums 
on  virtue,  his  invectives  against  laxity  of  morals  !  But 
see  him  just  returned  from  the  baths,  and  seated  at  the 
festal  board,  see  him  when  -he  has  drunk  from  the 
brimming  cup  which  a  slave  hands  to  him,  and  you  would 
say  he  must  have  imbibed  a  draught  of  the  waters 
of  Lethe,  so  rapid  is  the  change.  He  does  now  all  that 
in  the  morning  he  condemned.  He  seizes  like  a  bird 
of  prey  upon  the  viands,  feasting  himself  alone  ;  he 
greedily  serves  himself  from  the  dishes  placed  before 
his  neighbours,  and,  chin  deep  in  sauce,  he  devours  like 
a  dog.  He  bends  over  the  cups  as  eagerly  as  if  he  were 
seeking  virtue  therein.*  He  is  careful  to  leave  nothing 
that   can    be  eaten.     When  he  has   drunk    deep,    and 

*  KaOairep  tv  raig  \07raa1  n)v  upi.n)v  tl>pi)atiif  7i()0oiouu>i>.     (Lucian, 
Didot  Edit.,  36.) 


464  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

his  tongue  is  loosed  by  the  quick  pulses  of  the  wine, 
his  morning  prelections  on  sobriety  come  back  to  his 
memory,  and  he  repeats  them  with  a  thick  and  vinous 
utterance.  At  length  he  is  carried  from  the  table, 
clinging  with  both  hands  to  the  fair  performer  on  the 
flute.  Who  can  contest  with  him  the  palm  of  falsehood, 
audacity,  and  avarice  ?  He  is  the  prince  of  flatterers 
and  perjurers.  Falseness  goes  before  him,  impudence 
follows  him.  This,  however,  is  the  w7ise  and  perfect 
man,  the  best  friend  of  truth !  " 

Lucian  cannot  long  rest  satisfied  with  a  strain  of  satire 
so  just  as  this,  for  it  is  not  so  much  the  bad  philosophy 
as  the  good,  which  he  would  fain  wound  mortally  with 
his  barbed  arrows.  His  famous  dialogue,  the  "Auction 
of  the  Philosophers/'  is  prodigal  of  sarcasm  upon  the 
noblest  as  well  as  the  vilest  representatives  of  ancient 
philosophy.  Thus  to  confound  all  systems,  good  or  bad, 
is  the  surest  method  of  discrediting  philosophy  alto- 
gether. We  are  introduced  into  a  large  slave-market, 
where  Mercury  proceeds,  in  the  name  of  Jupiter,  to 
the  sale  of  various  philosophers.  Socrates,  Epicurus, 
Pythagoras,  Diogenes,  Heraclites,  Chrysippus,  Pyrrho, 
are  sold,  and  each  tries  to  overcharge  himself  to  the 
buyer.  Lucian  turns  this  scene  of  traffic  into  a  sort 
of  philosophical  comedy,  in  which  each  system  is  made 
the  subject  of  biting  criticism.  The  critique  on  Pyrr- 
honism is  excellent ;  it  is  the  irreproachable  portion 
of  the  dialogue. 

Buyer.  What  dost  thou  know  ? 

Pyrrho.  Nothing. 

Buyer.  How  so  ? 

Pyrrho.  Because  nothing  seems  to  me  to  have  a  real 
existence. 

Buyer.  Are  we  nothing,  then  ? 


BOOK   III. — THE  ATTACK  ON   CHRISTIANITY.       465 

Pyrrlw.  I  cannot  say. 

Buyer,  Thou  knowest  not  if  thou  art  aught  or 
naught  ? 

Pyrrlw.  That  less  than  aught  else  do  I  know. 

Buyer.  O  everlasting  doubter  I  but  of  what  use  this 
balancing  of  things  ? 

Pyrrlw.  I  compare  the  various  reasons  of  things ;  I 
weigh  them,  balance  them,  and  when  the  two  scales  are 
equal,  I  am  of  course  unable  to  decide. 

Buyer.  What  is  the  end  of  thy  science  ? 

Pyrrlw.  To  know  nothing,  to  listen  to  nothing,  to  see 
nothing.* 

The  purchaser,  after  concluding  his  bargain,  puts  to 
Pyrrho  this  question  :  "Art  thou  sure  that  I  have  bought 
thee  ?  " 

Pyrrho.  That  is  not  clear.t 

Buyer.  How,  then  ?     I  paid  down  the  money, 

Pyrrlw.  I  withhold  my  opinion.     Still,  I  doubt. 

Lucian  perpetually  contrasts  the  common  sense  of 
the  unlettered  multitude,  with  the  metaphysical  notions 
which  are  in  contradiction  with  it,  whether  by  their 
subtlety,  or  by  their  unnatural  elevation.  Metempsy- 
chosis, Plato's  theory  of  ideas,  the  imperturbable 
serenity  of  the  Stoic, — all  are  in  turn  the  subjects  of 
his  satire.  The  bad  spirit  in  which  this  dialogue  is 
conceived  is  especially  manifest  in  the  part  devoted 
to  Socrates. 

Mercury.  Who  buys  this  pearl  ? 

Buyer.  What  is  thy  best  quality  ? 

Socrates.  I  love  children. 

Bvyer.  How  mayst  thou  be  bought  ?  I  want  a 
pedagogue  for  a  fine  child. 

*  'H    apaBia,   kcu   to    pqrt    c'ckouuv    /xi'its   vptfs.        (Lucian,    Didot 
Edit.,  153.)  |  \\or,\ov. 


466  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Socrates.  For  that  I  have  no  equal.  It  is  not  with 
the  bodies,  but  with  the  souls  I  am  in  love. 

Buyer.  Thou  speakest  things  incredible. 

Socrates.  I  swear  it  by  the  dog  and  the  plane-tree. 

Buyer.  By  Hercules!  thou  dost  call  on  strange  gods! 

Socrates.  They  are  gods,  however. 

Buyer.  Thou  art  right ;  but  how  earnest  thou  to  know 
them*? 

Socrates.  I  dwell  in  a  city  which  I  have  formed  for 
myself,  in  a  new  republic  to  which  I  have  given  the 
laws. 

Buyer.  Cite  me  one  of  these  laws. 

Socrates.  Hear  what  I  have  decreed  about  women  : 
they  are  common  to  all. 

Buyer.  What  is  the  epitome  of  thy  life  ? 

Socrates.  Ideas  are  the  forms  and  exemplars  of  things. 
All  that  thou  seest, — the  earth,  the  sea, — has  its  super- 
sensible and  invisible  idea. 

Buyer.  Where  are  these  ideas  ? 

Socrates.  Nowhere,  for  if  they  were  anywhere,  they 
would  cease  to  be. 

By  such  ridiculous  traits  does  he  characterise  the 
greatest  school  of  antiquity ;  its  illustrious  head  is 
dragged  down  into  the  mire,  and  the  worst  calumnies 
of  his  murderers  are  accepted  and  complacently 
enlarged  upon.  All  the  philosophers  are  sold  for  an 
insignificant  sum.  One  alone  is  purchased  at  a  reason- 
able price,  this  is  Pythagoras.  The  reason  for  this  is 
not  to  be  sought  in  his  boasted  austerity,  in  the  purity 
of  his  manners,  in  the  elevation  of  his  doctrines. 
No;  the  scale  rises  for  him,  because  it  has  been 
discovered  that  he  has  (so  runs  the  legend)  a  golden 
thigh.  Could  any  stronger  expression  of  contempt  for 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancients  be  devised  ?     We  may  be 


BOOK  III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.       467 

always  sure  of  this,  that  hatred  and  scorn  of  philosophy 
are  fatal  moral  symptoms,  since  they  denote  complete 
obliviousness  of  a  higher  and  divine  world,  and  lead  to 
an  abject  materialism.  So  far  from  being  favourable 
to  Christianity,  as  has  been  sometimes  thought,  such 
a  disposition  deprives  it  of  its  surest  ground  of  appeal 
in  the  human  spirit.  The  attitude  of  Lucian  with 
regard  to  the  new  religion  gives  sufficient  evidence 
of  this.* 

We  have  already  observed  that  Lucian  is  distin- 
guished from  other  writers  of  his  time  who  did  battle 
with  the  Church,  by  a  comparative  moderation,  which 
has  more  in  it  of  scorn  than  of  indulgence.  The  great 
soul  of  Tacitus,  passionately  attached  to  the  old  Roman 
fatherland,  saw  in  Christianity  only  an  impious  innova- 
tion, tending  to  sap  the  foundations  of  a  social  order, 
which  was  the  more  deeply  regretted  in  contrast  with 
the  hated  present.  Lucian  was  too  indifferent  to  the 
destinies  of  his  country  to  share  such  feelings,  and  he 
was  too  far  removed  from  Christian  spirituality,  to 
enter  into  conflict  with  it  as  a  rival  sect.  He  regarded 
Christianity  as  only  one  of  the  extravagant  manifesta- 
tions of  that  craving  for  some  new  thing,  which  gave 
his  contemporaries  no  rest,  and  made  them  the  ready 
followers  of  any  religious  impostor.  His  treatise  on 
Alexander,  the  false  prophet,  was  destined  to  unmask 
the  cunning  practices  of  oriental  magic,  and  to  show  in 
their  true  colours,  the  gross  frauds  of  those  daring 
magicians  who  imposed  so  largely  on  public  credulity. 
From  pagan  superstition  he  passes,  in  his  "Peregrinus," 
to  Christian  superstition. 

*  See  an  excellent  article  on  this  subject,  by  Planck,  in  "  Studien 
und  Kritik,"p.826,  1851.  ("Lucian  und das  Christenthum").  See  also 
Buur,  "  Das  Christenthum  dcr  drei  ersten  Jahrhundcrt.,"  396-402. 


468  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

"  Peregrinus  "  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  simple  narra- 
tive. If  it  is  certain  that  the  hero  of  the  adventure 
narrated  by  Lucian  had  a  real  existence,  it  is  no  less 
certain  that  the  adventure  itself  is  an  invention  of  the 
satirist,  who  is  seeking  to  cast  ridicule  on  the  courageous 
death  of  the  Christian  confessors.*  Lucian  must  have 
met  with  more  than  one  heroic  witness  for  Christ  in 
his  many  travels.  He  had  passed  a  considerable 
time  in  Asia  Minor,  and  had  been  a  witness  of  the 
facts  reported  to  Trajan  by  Pliny.  He  must  have 
possessed  also  some  acquaintance  with  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, as  is  shown  by  many  passages  of  his  writings. t 
The  colours  for  a  farcical  picture  of  the  new  religion 
were  therefore  already  mixed  on  his  palette. 

Let  us  give  a  rapid  sketch  of  this  curious  composition, 

*  Aulu-Gelle  thus  speaks  of  Peregrinus  :  "  Cui  postea  cogno- 
mentum  Proteus  factum  est,  virum  gravem  atque  constantem. 
Malta,  hercle,  dicere  eum  utiliterethonesteaudivimus.  ("Noct.  attic. 
Epitome,"  VIII.  iii.)  He  does  not  say  a  word  of  his  suicide.  The 
other  writers  who  speak  of  it,  have  evidently  derived  their  informa- 
tion from  Lucian.  (See  Planck,  836-843).  Lucian  himself,  in  other 
works,  speaks  with  great  moderation  of  Peregrinus.  Thus  in 
the  "  Dialogue  of  the  Fugitives,"  Jupiter  acknowledges  that  Pere- 
grinus did  not  merit  death,  and  that  he  was  after  all  a  brave  man 
(ical  tovto  jitvlffutg).  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  Lucian  has  so 
metamorphosed  the  facts  of  the  true  story,  as  to  make  his  Peregri- 
nus a  fictitious  personage.  His  narrative  contains  also  many 
traits  indicative  of  a  fictitious  recital  ;  such  as  the  extreme  length 
of  the  speeches,  the  rapid  advancement  of  Peregrinus  from  one 
office  to  another  in  the  Church,  and  the  strange  course  pursued 
towards  him. 

f  In  the  "  Philopseudos,"  x.,  wonderful  cures  effected  by  the  in- 
vocation of  a  sacred  name  are  related.  In  chap,  xi.,  the  healed 
man  carries  his  bed  away  with  him,  as  in  Matt.  ix.  and  Mark  ii. 
In  chap,  xiii.,  mention  is  made  of  a  man  who  walks  upon  the 
waters.  In  chap,  xvi.,  there  is  the  healing  of  a  demoniac,  which 
recalls  many  features  of  the  evangelical  narrative.  In  the  "  Veras 
Historian,"  II.  ii.,  the  description  of  the  capital  of  the  Isle  of  the 
Blessed  reminds  us  of  that  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  in  Rev.  xxi. 
(See  Planck,  article  quoted,  886.) 


BOOK   III. — THE  ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        469 

that  we  may  estimate  the  character  of  the  polemics  of 
Lucian.  Peregrinus,  a  man  sunk  in  debauchery  and 
stained  with  every  crime,  strangles  his  own  father,  and 
then  becomes  a  wanderer  and  a  fugitive  from  place  to 
place.  At  length  he  arrives  in  Palestine,  where  he 
comes  in  contact  with  the  Christians.  He  rapidly 
obtains  credit  among  them,  and  is  promoted  to  the 
highest  offices  in  the  Church.  Cast  into  prison  for 
his  connection  with  a  proscribed  religion,  he  is  loaded 
with  tokens  of  affectionate  enthusiasm  by  his  new 
brethren.  He  receives  their  visits  and  their  presents. 
Hardly  escaped  from  prison,  he  recommences  his 
travels  and  his  course  of  infamy.  From  a  Christian 
he  becomes  a  cynic,  and  his  stay  in  Italy  is  signalised 
by  gross  outrages  offered  by  him  to  the  emperor.  He 
concludes  his  vile  career  by  causing  a  funeral  pile  to  be 
reared  for  himself  at  Elis,  which  is  to  be  the  pedestal 
of  his  glory,  for  he  ascends  it  in  great  pomp  before 
the  whole  of  Greece  assembled  for  the  public  games. 

Such  is  a  general  outline  of  Lucian's  derisive  treat- 
ment of  Christianity.  If  we  examine  in  detail  the 
passages  in  which  he  depicts  the  adherents  of  the  new 
religion,  we  find  a  singular  combination  of  impartiality 
and  injustice.  The  facts  themselves  are  not  distorted, 
except  in  the  final  scene ;  they  are  wrongly  interpreted 
rather  than  misrepresented.  Thus  we  find  no  trace 
in  the  writings  of  Lucian,  of  the  atrocious  calumnies 
circulated  in  his  time  about  the  secret  worship  of  the 
Christians.  All  that  phantasmagoria  of  the  popular 
imagination  which  caused  so  much  bloodshed,  exerts 
no  influence  over  his  mind.  He  coolly  narrates  what 
he  has  witnessed,  without  any  addition  except  occa- 
sional satirical  remarks.  Thus  he  involuntarily  renders 
the  highest  testimony  to  the  sect  which  he  seeks  to 


470  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

decry.  Others  will  see  the  true  greatness  in  that  which 
seems  to  him  simple  madness ;  the  tribute  which  he 
renders  to  the  tenderest  Christian  virtues,  is  of  so  much 
the  more  value  because  it  is  so  unwittingly  paid.  In 
truth,  all  the  accusations  brought  by  Lucian  against 
the  Christians,  may  be  traced  back  to  one  comprehen- 
sive charge — their  credulity.  This  was  the  intolerable 
offence  to  an  Epicurean  like  Lucian.  The  Christians 
are  men  of  faith,  while  he  is  a  man  of  sight ;  between 
him  and  them  there  is  all  the  distance  which  divides 
the  most  exalted  spirituality  from  the  most  abject  mate- 
rialism, hemmed  in  by  the  narrow  range  of  the  visible, 
and  never  seeking  to  rise  above  it.  "  These  miserable 
men,"  he  says,  "  have  persuaded  themselves  that  they 
are  immortal  and  will  live  for  ever.*  This  blind  credu- 
lity, which  leads  them  to  believe  in  another  life,  has 
made  them  the  victims  of  the  strangest  imposture.  The 
Founder  of  their  religion  is  an  obscure  sophist,  who  was 
crucified  in  Palestine  for  having  introduced  a  strange 
worship  into  Judaea.  They  adore  this  crucified  male- 
factor, and  for  the  faith  of  Him  have  forsaken  the 
brilliant  religion  of  the  Greeks,  and  embraced  a  new  super- 
stition, "t  There  would  have  been  something  wanting 
to  the  glory  of  Christj  if  any  other  judgment  than  this 
had  been  passed  upon  Him  by  such  a  man  as  Lucian. 
He  goes  on  to  say  that  the  Christians,  not  content  with 
thus  placing  their  confidence  in  this  first  impostor, 
bestow  it  with  equal  readiness  upon  any  one  who 
attempts  to  lead  them  away.  "  If  there  comes  among 
them  an  impostor,  a  crafty  rogue,  he  can  at  once  enrich 
himself  by  trading  on  their  credulity,  while  he  laughs 

*  ITf— (ikcuji  yap  avrovQ  oi  KaKo$aij.iovsQ  to  f.dv  '6\ov  aOdvaroi.  lasadaat. 
("  Peregrinus,"  xiii.  ;  Lucian,  "  Opera,"  69.) 

t  Toj/  dt  aveaico\o7riofisvov  GOtpiari/v  avrdv  Trpo7Kvvovm.     (Ibid.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.       471 

in  his  sleeve  at  their  simpleness."  In  this  way  Pere- 
grinus  made  his  fortune.  Lucian  represents  him  as  a 
second  Christ ;  his  authority  over  his  new  brethren 
at  once  became  so  great  that  they  considered  them- 
selves mere  children  beside  him.  "  He  was  by  turns 
prophet,  introducer  of  mysteries,  head  of  the  assembly; 
he  interpreted  their  sacred  books  and  wrote  others, 
so  that  many  regarded  him  as  a  god,  a  legislator 
and  high-priest  equal  to  the  crucified  one."*  Peregri- 
nus  thus  serves  a  double  purpose ;  Christ  and  His 
worshippers  are  both  made  the  objects  of  ridicule  in  his 
person.  The  imprisonment  of  the  impostor  gives  occa- 
sion for  a  fresh  display  of  satirical  power  in  the  writer. 
Lucian  represents  the  Christians  as  feeling  themselves 
wounded  in  the  person  of  Peregrinus,  and  putting  forth 
every  effort  for  his  deliverance.  "  From  early  morn- 
ing a  crowd  of  old  women,  widows  and  orphans,  was 
gathered  around  the  prison. t  The  principal  persons 
of  the  sect  passed  the  night  with  him,  having  bribed 
the  gaolers  with  money;  they  had  all  sorts  of  viands 
brought  to  them  in  the  prison,  and  read  their  sacred 
books.  Clearly  that  which  Lucian  here  describes  is  one 
of  those  sublime  Agapce,  secretly  celebrated  by  the  con- 
fessors in  the  darkness  of  their  dungeons,  during  the 
times  of  persecution.  The  fact  that  the  Christian  re- 
ligion was  of  so  compassionate  a  nature  that  it  attracted 
to    itself    the     suffering    and    sorrowful,    widows    and 

*  Koi  tl  yap;  iv  fipaxu  7ra1cag  avrovg  ('nrtcpip'e  TrpotyijTtig  Kai  Giacrdpxijg 
Kai  c,vvaywyivg  Kai  —dvra  fWVOQ  ai~bg  u>v  Kai  tuiv  jiifiKiov  rag  fitv  tEijyuro 
Kai  cucrc'vpu,  ttoWuq  ci  auTog  Kai  %vv'iypatyi  Kai  UQ  Qibv  avrbv  tKtivoi 
t'/yoivro  Kai  vopoOiT)]  ixpiovro  Kai  vpocfTd-ijv  iTrtypatyov.  tov  /.ityav  yovv 
tKtlvov  tri  (Ti/3ov(n,  tov  dvOpuiTrov  tov  iv  rS  WaXairrrn'/j  di'a(TKo\o7ri?9ivTa, 
vn  Kann)v  tovt))v  ti\it\)v  tlai)yaytv  lg  tov  (3iov.  ("  Peregrinus,"  xxxi.  ; 
Lucian,  "  Opera,"  691.) 

t  "H  yi  d\\i]  OtpaTTtia  Trarra  avv  airovCy  lyiyvtTO  Kai  ttoQiv  ftiv  ti>8i<g  i)v 
bpav  Trapd  Tip  ctap.uTJ)piuj  mpiptvovTa  yp(icia  x>lpaQ  Tivdg  Kai  rradia  optyavd. 

(Ibid.,  xn.) 


472  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

orphans,  and  that  under  its  influence  even  an  obscure 
prison-cell  could  be  transformed  into  a  sanctuary 
of  Christian  love,  only  moved  the  scorn  of  the  Cynic. 
He  passes  by  this  spectacle  of  tender  human  charity 
with  a  sneering  toss  of  the  head,  as  he  had  already 
passed  by  the  exhibition  of  Divine  charity  on  the  cross ; 
but  he  has  drawn  to  it  none  the  less  the  admiring  gaze 
of  after  ages.  "Nor  is  this  all,"  he  adds.  "Several 
cities  of  Asia  sent  deputies  to  Peregrinus  in  the  name 
of  the  Christians,  to  render  him  service  as  helpers, 
advocates,  and  comforters.  No  words  can  describe  the 
eagerness  to  aid,  which  they  display  under  such  circum- 
stances ;  to  say  all,  in  one  word,  they  count  no  cost. 
Large  sums  of  money  thus  found  their  way  to  Pere- 
grinus." This  passage  gives  emphatic  witness  not 
only  to  the  charity  exercised  towards  ea.h  other  by 
members  of  the  same  Church,  but  also  to  the  close  bond 
of  holy  union,  which  subsisted  among  the  Christians  of 
every  land.  It  affords  a  beautiful  practical  illustration 
of  the  words  of  the  apostle:  "  If  one  member  suffer,  all 
the  members  suffer  with  him."  The  man  of  the  world 
could  form  no  conception  of  such  a  bond,  and  this 
grand  catholicity  of  the  Christian  brotherhood  only 
moved  him  to  sardonic  mirth.  "  Their  first  legislator," 
he  says,  with  a  sneer,  "  has  persuaded  them  that  they 
are  all  brethren.*  They  sell  their  goods,  and  have  all 
things  in  common,  so  entirely  do  they  rely  on  His 
words.  Christian  brotherhood  lies  beyond  the  range 
of  Epicurean  vision ;  to  the  man  who  lives  only  for 
himself,  disinterested  love  must  seem  the  height  of  folly. 
The  greater  the  self-devotion,  the  more  irrational  does 
it  appear  in  his  eyes.  Martyrdom  is  the  climax  of 
unreason  in  Lucian's  view,  and  he  makes  it  the  mark 
*  'Qc  dfoX^oi  -Kuvrfc  eisv.     (u  Peregrinus,"  xiii.j 


BOOK    III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        473 

for  his  sharpest  arrows  of  sarcasm.  All  the  latter  part 
of  "  Peregrinus  "  is  a  parody  of  the  tortures  of  the 
Christians.  Some  have  disputed  the  correctness  of  this 
interpretation,  because  Peregrinus,  on  coming  out  of 
prison,  attaches  himself  to  the  sect  of  the  Cynics  ;  but 
if  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  Lucian  regards  Christianity 
less  as  a  special  sect  than  as  one  of  many  curious  mani- 
festations of  the  religious  malady  of  the  time, — a  malady 
which  seems  to  him  common  to  all  schools  but  his  own 
— it  will  be  seen  that  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  him  whether  his  attacks  fell  upon  the  Christians  or 
the  Cynics.  In  truth,  he  aims  a  blow  at  both  sects 
at  once,  and  confounds  the  holiness  of  the  one  with  the 
false  austerity  of  the  other.  It  is  of  small  consequence, 
then,  that  Peregrinus  passes  from  the  school  of  Christ 
to  that  of  Diogenes  ;  in  Lucian's  estimation  he  is  still 
pursuing  the  same  course.  Beside,  it  was  perfectly 
simple  to  suppose  in  an  age  of  universal  eclecticism, 
the  fusion  of  two  systems  in  the  same  individual. 
If  Lucian  makes  Peregrinus  speak  and  act  as  a  Cynic, 
he  makes  him  die  as  a  Christian.  Possibly  it  is  with  a 
view  to  offering  the  more  unrestrained  insults  to  him  as 
a  Christian,  that  he  turns  him  into  a  Cynic.  Not  believ- 
ing in  the  vile  calumnies  cast  upon  the  Church  by  the 
ignorant  masses,  he  would  not  have  dared  so  completely 
to  blacken  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  new  religion, 
if  he  had  not  first  wrapped  him  in  the  soiled  and  tattered 
mantle  of  Diogenes.  Here  again  we  have  what  may  be 
regarded  as  a  fresh  and  indirect  tribute  to  Christianity. 
It  is  impossible  also  not  to  recognise  in  the  death  of 
Peregrinus,  a  facetious  skit  on  two  martyrs  with  whom 
Lucian  had  certainly  had  some  acquaintance  in  Asia 
Minor ;  many  features  in  his  narrative  recall  the  deaths 
of  Ignatius  and  Polycarp.     The   deputations  sent  from 

01 


474  TI1E    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

the  Churches  to  Peregrinus,  his  ardent  impatience  for 
death,  bring  to  mind  the  glowing  letters  of  the  Bishop 
of  Antioch;  the  scene  of  the  fiery  pile  of  Elis,  and  the 
eagerness  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased  to  gather  up 
his  ashes,  are  clearly  but  a  travesty  of  the  acts  of  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Bishop  of  Smyrna.  We  may  observe, 
in  conclusion,  that  in  the  former  part  of  his  work, 
Lucian  especially  mentions  the  contempt  of  suffering, 
leading  men  to  surrender  themselves  voluntarily  to 
death,  as  one  of  the  most  unaccountable  caprices  of  the 
Christians.  But  is  not  this  precisely  the  case  of  Pere- 
grinus ?  his  death  can  be  regarded,  then,  as  nothing  else 
than  a  caricature  of  martyrdom.  This  comes  out  beyond 
a  doubt  from  an  examination  of  the  details.  The 
funeral  pile  has  been  erected  at  a  distance  of  twenty 
stadia  from  Olympia.  Scarcely  has  the  moon  risen, 
when  Peregrinus  advances  in  his  ordinary  attire,  and 
surrounded  by  the  chief  men  of  his  sect,  just  as  the 
Christian  confessors  were  followed  by  their  brethren 
to  the  threshold  of  the  arena.  He  lays  down  his  wallet 
and  burns  some  incense,  and  then  he  disappears  in  the 
flames.  His  adherents,  gathered  around  the  fire,  stand 
motionless,  and  mark  their  grief  by  solemn  silence.  "  I 
met,"  says  the  ironical  narrator,  "  a  crowd  of  people 
going  to  see  this  spectacle.  They  flattered  themselves 
they  should  find  Peregrinus  still  alive.  .  .The  most  part 
turned  back  when  I  told  them  the  thing  was  done, 
except  those  who  cared  not  so  much  to  see  the  sight 
itself  as  the  spot  where  it  had  taken  place,  and  who 
were  anxious  to  gather  up  some  remains  from  the  fire." 
Who  can  fail  to  recognise  in  this  description  those 
Christians  of  Smyrna,  who  piously  collected  the  yet 
smouldering  ashes  of  the  venerable  Polycarp  ?  .  .  .  . 
The  same  narrator  goes   on   to   say :   "  To  please  the 


BOOK  III. — THE  ATTACK  ON  CHRISTIANITY.   475 

imbeciles,  ever  greedy  after  the  marvellous,  I  added 
from  my  own  invention  some  tragic  details  ;  for  example, 
that  at  the  moment  when  the  flames  caught  the  pile  and 
Peregrinus  cast  himself  into  them,  there  was  an  earth- 
quake, accompanied  with  a  fearful  rumbling  sound.  .  ."* 
This  last  touch  is  a  scoff  not  at  the  disciple  but  at  . 
the  Divine  Master  himself,  for  it  contains  an  evident 
allusion  to  the  extraordinary  circumstances  which  ac- 
companied the  death  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

The  whole  of  Lucian's  polemics  against  Christianity 
thus  culminates  in  a  parody  of  martyrdom.  To  the 
man  whose  sole  care  was  to  deck  with  the  flowers  of 
style,  the  grand  maxim  of  materialism,  "  Let  us  eat  and 
drink,  for  to-morrow  wre  die,"  the  Christian,  voluntarily 
choosing  death  rather  than  life,  is  not  only  the  most  miser- 
able, he  is  the  most  senseless  of  mankind.  The  scene  of 
the  confessor's  martyrdom  is,  next  to  the  cross  of  Christ, 
the  most  powerful  protest  of  the  invisible  against  the 
visible,  of  spirit  against  matter,  of  holy  love  against 
selfish  ease;  in  a  word,  of  Christianity  against  Epicu- 
reanism. That  which  was  the  great  stone  of  stumbling 
to  the  Epicurean  was  the  great  strength  of  the  Christian : 
attack  and  defence  must  both  be  concentrated  on  this 
point.  The  Christians  could  make  no  better  reply  to 
their  scoffing  adversaries  than  to  continue  to  suffer  and 
to  die  for  the  truth.  Their  triumph  was  sure,  for,  after 
all,  human  conscience  is  on  the  side  of  the  devotee  and 
not  of  the  scoffer. 


(b.)  Attacks  of  Celsus  on  Christianity. 

Christianity  was  to  encounter  in  the  ranks  of  eclectic 
philosophy  an  adversary,  not  more   acute   and    quick- 
*  "  Peregrinus,"  xxxvi.-xxxix.     Talbot's  translation. 


47^  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

witted,  but  more  able  and  implacable,  than  Lucian. 
Celsus,  who  lived  under  the  Antonines,*  appears  to 
have  professed  a  system  composed  of  the  most  hetero- 
geneous elements,  since  it  held  in  combination  Platonism 
and  Epicureanism.  This  motley  union  presents  nothing 
really  astonishing  in  an  age  when  the  most  lawless 
syncretism  prevailed,  throwing  down  all  barriers  and 
effacing  the  dividing  lines  of  all  doctrines.  We  shall 
not  find  in  Celsus  either  the  classic  Platonist  or  the 
ordinary  Epicurean.  Platonism  is  somewhat  depreciated 
in  his  system,  and  the  Epicurean  philosophy  somewhat 
elevated.  He  has  not  the  lofty  spirituality  of  a  faithful 
disciple  of  the  Academy,  nor  the  gross  materialism 
of  the  true  followers  of  Epicurus.  It  was  to  him  that 
Lucian  addressed  his  work,  "  Alexander,  the  False 
Prophet. "t      Representing  Gnostic   philosophy  in   its^ 

*  Celsus  cannot  have  written  before  the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius, 
since  he  speaks  of  the  Marcionites,  a  sect  which  only  appeared  in 
the  year  142  after  Christ ;  and  of  the  Marcellians,  Gnostics  of  the 
sect  of  Carpocrates,  who  came  to  Rome  in  the  year  157.  (Irenaeus, 
"  Contra  Haeres.,"  I.  xxiv.)  The  details  which  he  gives  of  the 
Christians  compelled  to  hide  themselves  to  escape  death,  may  refer 
perfectly  well  to  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  ("  Contra  Celsum," 
VIII.  69.) 

t  Several  Church  historians  have  refused  to  admit  that  the  Celsus 
who  wrote  against  Christianity  was  the  same  Celsus,  the  friend  of 
Lucian  and  the  Epicurean,  of  whom  the  great  apologist  speaks. 
("  Contra  Celsum,"  I.  8.)  They  object,  firstly,  on  the  ground  of 
the  plainly  Platonic  principles  which  were  at  the  basis  of  the  system 
of  Origen's  adversary  ;  they  further  draw  attention  to  the  fact, 
that  the  defender  of.  Christianity  speaks  only  with  some  hesitation 
as  to  the  person  of  his  opponent.  They  conclude  from  these 
considerations  that  there  was  more  than  one  Celsus — an  Epicurean 
Celsus  and  a  Platonist  of  the  same  name.  The  following  pas- 
sage, in  which  Origen  seems  to  suppose  that  some  Celsus,  other 
than  his  usual  opponent,  might  have  written  against  Christianity,  is 
appealed  to  in  support  of  this  hypothesis  :  EI  ye  ovrot;  sort  rai  6  Kara 
Xpioriavuv  aXka  Ho  fiifiXia  avvra^aQ.  "If,  at  least,  it  is  he  who  has 
written  two  other  books  against  the  Christians."  ("  Contra  Celsum/' 
IV.  36.)      It  is  argued  from  this  passage  that  Origen  admitted 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON   CHRISTIANITY.       477 

most  glorious  tradition  and  in  its  most  popular  school, 
he  repudiated  all  that  was  of  foreign  extraction,  both 
the  magic  of  Asia,  against  which  he  had  himself  written 
several  books,  and  the  new  doctrine  sprung  from  Judaea. 
The  cross  was,  in  a  twofold  aspect,  folly  to  such 
a  man.  In  the  first  place,  it  rendered  valueless  all  the 
subtle  and  brilliant  dialectics  which  were  the  pride 
of  the  Platonists,  requiring  alike  from  learned  and 
unlearned,  the  faith  of  a  little  child;  and,  secondly,  it 
demanded  of  the  Epicurean,  the  man  of  pleasure,  self- 
denial  and  devotion,  even  unto  death,  to  the  cause 
of  Christ.     It  was  as  severe  upon  the  mere  gratifica- 

the  possible  existence  of  a  second  Celsus,  equally  bitter  against  the 
new  religion,  but  who  attacked  it  from  a  different  standpoint.  It 
would  then  be  easy  to  suppose  that  the  great  apologist  had  more 
than  once  attributed  to  the  Platonist  the  ideas  of  the  Epicurean, 
and  the  difficulty  would  disappear.  But  in  Book  VII.  lxxvi., 
Origen  speaks  to  his  friend  Ambrose  of  other  books  in  which 
Celsus  the  Epicurean  attacked  Christianity  ;  it  follows  that  in  the 
former  passage  he  was  also  speaking  of  the  disciple  of  Epicurus, 
and  that  he  merely  alluded  to  other  writings  of  the  same  kind  of 
which  he  was  the  author.  If  it  is  asserted  that  the  association  of  a 
modified  Platonism  with  a  mitigated  Epicureanism,  in  the  second 
century  after  Christ,  is  impossible,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Origen 
was  completely  mistaken  upon  this  point,  for  he  unquestionably  attri- 
butes to  the  same  man  ideas  borrowed  from  both  schools.  Now, 
we  cannot  believe  that  a  man  of  such  high  philosophical  ability 
would  have  assigned  to  the  same  individual  two  doctrines  which 
would  have  been  in  his  time  utterly  irreconcilable.  Since  he  repre- 
sents Celsus  as  an  Epicurean,  it  follows  that  the  blending  of  a  form 
of  Platonism  with  a  form  of  Epicureanism  was  then  possible.  How 
can  any  one  affirm  the  contrary,  of  an  age  when  all  ideas  and  all 
religions  were  in  a  state  of  fusion  ?  Who  can  be  certain  that  he  has 
exhausted  all  the  possible  combinations  of  this  universal  syncretism? 
Besides,  Celsus  had  selected  the  oriental  and  pantheistic  aspect 
of  Platonism,  which  could  very  well  be  combined  with  Epicu- 
reanism. The  philosopher  who  placed  man  lower  in  the  scale  than 
the  brute  was  a  very  lax  disciple  of  Plato.  We  hold,  then,  to  the 
hypothesis  of  Origen,  which  still  seems  to  us  the  most  plausible. 
(See  the  discussion  of  this  point  in  N candor,  "  Church  History," 
I.  169,  and  in  Baur,  "  Geschichte  der  drei  erst.  Jahrhund.,"  371.) 
Both  historians  draw  a  conclusion,  the  opposite  of  our  own. 


478  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

tion  of  the  intellect  as  of  the  senses.  Such  a  religion 
must,  at  any  cost,  be  shorn  of  the  prestige  it  had 
gained  ;  it  must  be  branded  afresh  with  the  ignominy 
of  its  origin,  and  made  once  more  a  post  of  infamy, 
upon  which  dangerous  innovators  deserved  to  be 
crucified  like  their  Master  before  them.  This  was  the 
pious  task  to  which  Celsus  devoted  himself.  His  book, 
which  he  entitled  "  The  Words  of  Truth,"*  is  a  master- 
piece of  able  and  impassioned  argument ;  so  far  at 
least  as  we  can  judge  from  the  fragments  handed 
down  to  us  by  Origen.t  The  keen  instinct  of  hatred 
gave  him  remarkable  clear-sightedness ;  he  at  once 
discerned  the  points  of  attack  most  favourable  for  the 
assailant.  He  collected  in  his  quiver  all  the  objections 
possible  to  be  made,  and  there  is  scarcely  one  missing 
of  all  the  arrows  which  in  subsequent  times  have 
been  aimed  against  the  super-natural  in  Christianity. 
Detailed  discussion  of  texts,  broad  philosophical  theo- 
ries, piquant  sarcasm,  eloquent  invective, — all  are  ap- 
pliances at  his  command.  Nor  does  he  scruple  to  have 
recourse  to  the  bad  faith  which  wrests  and  falsely 
colours  facts,  and  reconstructs  history  according  to 
the  requirements  of  party  polemics.  J  To  render  his 
task  more  easy,  he  purposely  confounds  Christian  doc- 
trine with  the  heresies  in  which  its  principles  were 
misrepresented^     The  contest  is  never  allowed  to  flag; 

*  'A\i]9>)q  \byog. 

t  These  fragments  we  find  scattered  throughout  Origen's  Great 
Apology.  Baur  has  analysed  them  with  his  habitual  acuteness. 
(Work  quoted,  p.  371  and  following.) 

X  Origen  gives  us  a  striking  instance  of  this  distortion  of  facts. 
("  Contra  Celsum,"  II.  xxiv.)  Celsus,  when  ridiculing  the  agony 
of  Christ  in  the  garden,  carefully  avoids  citing  those  words  of 
sublime  obedience  which  mingled  with  his  groans.  He  frequently 
thus  mutilates  texts.     (See  I.  63  ;  II.  34.) 

§  "  Contra  Celsum,"  VI.  24. 


BOOK  III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.         479 

Celsus  does  not  attempt  to  preserve  the  attitude  of 
an  impartial  judge,  his  hatred  makes  this  impossible: 
again  and  again  we  find  him  breaking  the  thread  of 
a  dispassionate  discussion  of  exegesis,  to  make  in  the 
most  direct  manner  passionate  appeals  to  Christ  Him- 
self. This  uncontrollable  vehemence  accounts  for  the 
absence  of  method  by  which  his  work  is  characterised.* 
He  did  not  allow  himself  time  to  form  his  accusations 
into  a  logical  chain ;  they  struggled  for  utterance  like 
long-imprisoned  waters ;  and  as  Origen  has  well  said, 
hatred  and  wrath  know  no  law.  This  lawlessness 
and  confusion  were,  however,  only  on  the  surface ; 
beneath  there  was  a  severe  logic  in  the  polemics  of 
Celsus.  Desiring  to  make  his  book  a  vast  repertory 
of  all  the  assaults  upon  the  new  religion,  he  does  not 
rest  satisfied  with  the  objections  amply  supplied  to 
him.  by  his  own  philosophical  point  of  view;  he  is 
well  aware  that  Judaism  is  the  foremost  foe  of  Chris- 
tianity alike  in  date  and  in  rank  :  he  knows  that  no 
hostility  will  ever  surpass  that  of  the  synagogue  towards 
a  creed  which  it  regards  as  a  vile  apostasy.  The 
coalition  of  Pilate  and  Herod  is  renewed  in  the  work 
of  Celsus;  only,  in  the  place  of  a  worn-out  sceptic 
inclined  to  indulgence,  we  have  an  evil  philosopher 
full  of  spleen  ;  in  the  place  of  an  ambitious  king,  who 
has  sold  himself  to  the  alien,  we  have  a  fantastic  scribe. 
Christ  is  brought  into  the  presence  of  a  sophist  and 
a  rabbi,  into  the  presence,  that  is,  of  the  two  schools 
which  have  always  been  most  bitterly  hostile  to  Him. 
Celsus  commences  by  bringing  accusations  against 
the  Gospel  from  the  standpoint  of  a  degenerate 
Judaism.       He    assumes  the    mask   of  a  Jew,   to   use 

*  IToXXd    tvpyg   avyKf)(Vfx.kviaQ    toj     KiXov-j   ilpij/xtva     ci     oXijg   j3io\ov. 
("  Contra  Celsum,"  I.  40.) 


4S0  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Origen's  expression,*  and  plays  his  part  with  much 
skill.  He  postpones,  till  the  occasion  comes  for 
speaking  in  his  own  name,  the  discussion  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  monotheism.  He  admits  for  the  moment  that 
which  he  will  presently  deny ;  he  first  makes  use  of 
the  Jew,  to  rid  himself  of  the  Christians,  and  when 
this  is  accomplished,  he  will  turn  upon  the  Jew  and 
in  him  strike  a  blow  at  theism,  which  is  to  him  the 
abhorrent  basis  of  both  the  religions  of  the  Bible. 
Celsus,  with  true  judgment,  does  not  put  into  the 
mouth  of  the  defender  of  Judaism  the  keen  and  close 
arguments,  or  broad  erudition  of  a  Greek  philosopher ; 
he  uses  the  Jew  as  the  type  of  that  unintelligent 
conservatism  which  makes  the  mind  a  petrifaction 
of  the  past.  His  scribe  reproaches  the  Christians  with 
allowing  themselves  to  be  absurdly  deceived  by  Jesus, 
and  with  having  forsaken  the  religion  of  their  fathers 
by  changing  their  name  and  mode  of  life.t  Well 
versed  in  the  holy  books,  as  became  a  doctor  of  the 
law,  the  Jew  set  forth  by  Celsus  enters  into  a  minute 
discussion  of  texts,  compares  various  documents,  and 
makes  them  nullify  each  other.  It  is  by  exegesis 
that  this  objector  seeks  to  discredit  the  Gospel  narra- 
tive, and  he  spells  it  out  as  a  faithful  disciple  of  the 
letter  which  kills.  Convinced  that  the  Christians  will 
fall  slain  by  the  sword  of  their  own  Scriptures,  he 
perpetually  wields  against  them  the  sharp  two-edged 
blade  which  is  to  pierce  them  through.^ 

First  the  crafty   rabbi,    studiously   confounding   the 
four  canonical   Gospels  with  the  apocryphal   Gospels, 

*  'EyKoXu  Tip  '1i]gov  o  KtXrroj;  diet  tqv  iovda'itcov  7rpo(Tto7rov.      ("Contra 

Celsum,"  II.  41.) 

f  <i>)]criv  auTovg  KaraKnrovrag  tov  Tcct-piov  v6p.ov,  Kcii  aTrguro/ioXy/aj/ai 
tit;  d\\o  uvofxa,    K<xi  tic;  tiWov  jiiov.      (Ibid.,  II.  I.) 

%  Auroi  yap  tavTo'ig  Trs.pnrinTiTi.     (Ibid.,  II.  74.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        481 

at  that  time  very  numerous,  asserts  that  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Christians  had  undergone  numberless  falsi- 
fications. "  Like  men,"  he  says,  "  who,  in  a  state  of 
intoxication  lay  hands  upon  themselves,  they  have 
modified  and  entirely  changed,  three  or  four  or  even 
more  times,  the  text  of  the  Gospels,  with  a  view  to 
obviate  objections  brought  against  them.*  .  .  .  But  they 
have  taken  their  precautions  so  ill  that  they  have  left 
still  innumerable  contradictions  in  the  narratives  for 
the  authenticity  of  which  they  plead."  The  Jew  passes 
in  review  these  supposed  contradictions,  placing  side 
by  side  the  various  accounts  of  the  several  Gospels. 
Nor  is  he  satisfied  with  raising  critical  doubts  as 
to  the  value  of  the  documents ;  he  constantly  impugns 
the  subject-matter  itself.  It  is  not  enough  for  him  to 
prove  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  or  John  ;  he  pursues  with  his  bitter 
sarcasms  the  Divine  hero  of  the  story.  He  carefully 
avoids  any  discussion  of  the  prophetic  oracles,  to  which 
the  Christians  appealed  in  opposition  to  the  adherents 
of  the  synagogue,  and  by  which  in  very  truth  they 
smote  their  antagonists  with  their  own  sword.  The- 
Jew  of  Celsus  passes  by  in  perfect  silence,  the  exact 
declarations  of  the  Old  Testament  with  reference  to 
the  Messiah  ;t  he  justifies  his  fellow  countrymen  in 
their  unbelief,  and  simply  draws  the  conclusion  that 
the  Christians  have  wrongly  interpreted  the  prophets. 
"  How,"  he  asks,  "can  it  be  explained,  that  we  should 
have  covered  with  reproach  and  dishonour  Him  whose 
coming  we  were  to  announce  to  all  mankind,  and 
whose  righteous  judgments  we  were  to  proclaim 
against  the  wicked  ?"     After  thus  simplifying  his  task, 

*  nIv  t-xpuv  Trpvg  tovq  iX&yxovg  apviioOat.  ("  Contra  Celsum,"  II.  27.) 
Ibid.,  I.49. 


482  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

he  does  violence  to  the  pages  of  the  sacred  writings 
one  after  another.  The  two  genealogies  of  the  Gospels 
do  not  detain  him  long ;  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
perceived  all  the  difficulties  involved  in  this  formidable 
critical  problem.  He  contents  himself  with  giving 
emphasis  to  the  contrast  between  a  reputed  origin  so 
glorious,  and  the  low  estate  of  the  mother  of  Christ.*" 
He  seeks  to  degrade  the  Virgin  of  Bethlehem  by 
making  himself  the  echo  of  the  vilest  calumnies  as  to 
the  birth  of  her  first-born  son  ;  he  does  not  hesitate  to 
trace  it  to  a  guilty  connection  with  a  Roman  soldier. t 
"  This  is  a  slander  raked  out  of  the  mire  of  the  street," 
justly  remarks  Origen.J  The  flight  into  Egypt  strikes 
him  as  supremely  ludicrous.  "What  need  hadst  Thou 
to  flee?"  he  asks  the  infant  Jesus.  "Was  it  to 
escape  death  ?  But  a  God  has  no  death  to  fear.  .  .  . 
Could  not  the  great  God,  who  sent  two  angels  to 
rescue  Thee,  have  preserved  His  own  Son  safe  and 
sound  in  Thy  house  ?"§  This  journey  into  foreign 
countries  was  turned  to  account,  however,  by  the 
founder  of  the  new  religion.  "  Brought  up  secretly 
in  Egypt,  He  there  learned  to  work  miracles,  and  was 
thus  enabled  on  His  return  to  pass  Himself  off  as 
God."  ||  This  charge  of  sorcery  recurs  frequently 
in  the  writings  of  Celsus.  We  shall  see  that  he 
presently  brings  it  forward  in  his  own  name.  "  Must 
we  believe,"  adds  the  soi-disant  Jew,  "in  all  the 
charlatans  who  practise  enchantments,  and  take  them 
to  be  gods  ?"1[  The  divinity  of  the  Saviour  is  the  sub- 
ject of  the  concentrated  malice  of  the  representative 
of  the  synagogue.     "  If  it  is  enough  to  prove  godhead, 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  II.  32.     f  'Art/twe  okotiov  l\>vvi}at  rhv  'Iijgovv, 
(Ibid.,  I.  28.)  J  Ibid.,  I.  39.  §  Tbv  tdiov  viov.     ;lbid.,  I.  66.) 

||  Ofov    Si    Liceivag  rag  Swufitig  tavrbv  dvaXopeuovra.      (Ibid.,  I.  3^-) 
IT  Ibid.,  I.  68. 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.       483 

that  a  man  should  ascribe  his  birth  to  an  intervention 
of  Providence,  then  any  one  of  us  may  proclaim  himself 
a  god.  Such  a  privilege  is  common  to  all.*  All 
nations  have  had  their  apotheoses ;  the  only  difference 
between  the  Christian  doctrine  and  other  religions, 
is,  that  Christ  has  done  less  to  deserve  deification  than 
any  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity.  Such  beings  as  Minos 
and  Amphion  have  rendered  far  greater  services  than 
He.  What  hast  Thou  done,  then,  so  noble,  so  beautiful 
in  word  or  deed,  O  Christ,  though  the  Jews  in  the 
Temple  besought  Thee  to  show  a  sign  of  Thy  divinity  ?"t 
After  discussing  the  principal  facts  of  the  Gospel 
history,  the  scribe  expends  his  most  bitter  irony  on 
the  account  of  the  Passion.  The  sponge  dipped  in 
vinegar  is  truly  held  by  his  hand  a  second  time  in 
bitter  scorn  to  the  Christ  on  the  cross.  First  of  all, 
Christ  could  not  have  announced  His  coming  death 
to  His  disciples;  for  if  He  had  foreseen,  He  would  have 
evaded  it.  "Where  is  the  God,  where  is  the  genius, 
where  is  the  prudent  man,  who,  foreseeing  a  calamity, 
would  not  use  every  endeavour  to  escape  it  if  he  could, 
but  would  rush  into  it  headlong  ?"J  Such  an  objection 
is  full  of  force  to  a  man  who  regards  all  self-devotion  as 
simple  folly.  "  If  a  God  had  predicted  these  things," 
resumes  the  Jew,  "  it  was  necessary  that  they  should 
be  accomplished.  This  God,  then,  constrained  His 
own  disciples,  with  whom  He  ate  and  drank,  to 
trample  on  every  notion  of  justice  and  right.  He 
ought  surely  to  have  shown  most  of  all  to  His  own, 
that  good-will  which  He  testified  to  all.  Was  a  true 
man  ever  known  to  lay  an  ambush  for  those  with  whom 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  I.  57. 

f  2i<  ci)  ti  Ka\bv  1)  Oavf^iufTioi'  tpy<>i  i]  Xdvfej  7rnroh]KaQ  ;     (Ibid.,  I.  68.) 
%  Tig  av  Qtbq,  //  caifxiuv,  1)  di>Vpu>7ro<j  fpuvi/xoi;  ovvitnTtTiV  olg  7Tf.O(Tt-iaroTo; 
(Ibid.,  II.  19.) 


484  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

he  lived  in  intimacy  ?  Yet  this  is  what  was  done  by 
this  God  ;  and,  what  is  more  absurd,  He  laid  snares 
for  His  friends  to  make  them  traitors  and  impious."* 
Such  a  charge,  which  would  be  meaningless  in  the 
mouth  of  a  pagan  fatalist,  was  truly  characteristic  of 
the  mind  of  a  Jew,  and  might  seem  at  first  hard  to 
meet.  It  was  of  especial  importance  because  it  im- 
pugned the  perfect  holiness  of  the  Saviour. t  The 
polemic  shows  himself  equally  an  adept,  when  he 
endeavours  to  prove  that  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ 
cannot  be  regarded  as  a  punishment  voluntarily 
assumed  by  Him.  In  fact,  if  He  died  because  He 
willed  to  die,  He  was  not  punished;  the  cross  was  then 
the  crown  of  His  desires.  J  This  Jew  of  Celsus — the 
worthy  scion  of  his  forefathers,  the  mockers  around 
the  cross — follows  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  step 
by  step  along  the  path  which  led  Him  to  Calvary, 
and  has  a  jeer  for  each  article  of  anguish.  He 
enters  with  Him  the  garden  of  Gethsemane ;  with 
a  dry  eye  he  beholds  that  'ony,  with  a  heart  unmoved 
he  listens  to  those  groans;  and  when  he  sees  the 
Saviour  prostrate  in  the  dust  and  bedewing  it  with 
drops  of  blood,  he  bursts  into  this  cruel  irony :  "  See 
Him.  hear  Him,  lamenting,  weeping,  crying  with  a 
loud  voice  to  be  delivered  from  the  fear  of  death  !"§ 
The  Jew  enacts  his  part  consistently  throughout.  His 
fury  is  as  fierce  as  that  of  his  countrymen  who  beheld 
the  crucifixion ;  the  most  sublime  and  melting  scenes 
of  the   Passion   have   no    power   to   disarm   his  bitter 

*  Avtoq  6   Qtbg  Toiq  avvrpaTTi^oi^  i7r(fiov\tv<re,  TrpoSoraQ  tcai  SvcraefielQ 
7roLoJv.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  II.   20.) 
t  'KyKaXu  t({*  'li]crov  ws  fir)  Ss.il£avTi  tavrbv  iravTuv  ci]  kcikuiv  Karaptvovra. 

(Ibid.,  II.  41.) 

X  Ai)\ovori  Quij  ovti  ical  ftovXopivo)  ovr  dXynvd,  ovt  dvidpa  ijv  rd  Kara 
yvb)p.i}v  xpufieva.      (Ibid.,  II.  23.) 

§  Tt  ovv  TroTVidrai  Kai  ocvptrai ;     (Ibid.,  II.  24.) 


BOOK    III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.         485 

hatred.  The  spectacle  of  Christ  dragged  from  one 
tribunal  to  another,  draws  from  him  only  such  words 
as  these  :  "  How  can  He  be  regarded  as  a  God  who 
has  not  kept  one  of  His  promises,  and  who,  after  being 
confounded  by  us,  and  sentenced  to  be  worthy  of  death, 
sought  the  most  obscure  hiding-place,  and  was  over- 
taken in  the  most  ignominious  flight  ?*  Pilate,  who 
condemned  Him,  incurred  no  vengeance  from  Him.t 
He  had  only  a  handful  of  disciples,  and  they  forsook 
Him  and  fled.  During  the  whole  course  of  His 
ministry  he  had  only  gained  over  to  His  doctrine  ten 
fishermen  and  two  publicans  of  the  lowest  sort4  Even 
these  He  had  not  succeeded  in  attaching  truly  to  His 
cause.  "  Those  who  had  been  with  Him  during  His 
life,  who  had  listened  to  His  voice,  who  had  taken 
Him  for  their  master,  when  they  saw  Him  suffering 
and  dying,  were  not  willing  to  meet  death  or  suffering 
with  Him ;  on  the  contrary,  they  even  denied  that 
they  were  His  disciples. "§  t  Briefly  summing  up  the 
whole  argument,  Celsus  e.  I  laims  through  the  mouth 
of  his  Jew:  "Instead  of  tire'  Divine  Word,  all  purity, 
all  holiness,  the  Christians  set  before  us  as  the  Son 
of  God,  a  being  worthy  only  of  contempt,  and  who 
perished  miserably  on  a  cross. "|| 

It  is  plain  that  Celsus  and  his  Jew  were  of  that  order 
of  men,  with  whom  present  success  is  the  gauge  of 
truth.  Even  accepting  his  stand  point,  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ  seriously  admitted,  would  overturn  the 
strongest   objections  urged  against  Christianity,  since 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  II.  9.  t  Ibid.,  II.  34. 

+  A'tKa  vavraQKou  rtkuvaQ  rove  i%u)\((ttq.tovq  p6vov£  tl\t.  (Ibid.,  II.  46.) 
§  KoXaZo/itvov    ku'i     airoOvfimeovra    bpoivrtq    oirt    vvvairiOavov,    ovrt 

VTTtpcnrtBavov  avTOu.      I  Ibid.,  II.  45-) 

||  'kTrociiKvvp.iv  ov  Xoyov  KaQapuv  teal  iiyiov,  d\\a  dv9pu)7rov,  aTif.iuTa.TOV, 

CLTraxOivra  tcai  aTroTvpiravi(rBtvTa.     (Ibid.,  II.  $\.) 


486  THE   EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

a  crucifixion  leading  to  such  glory  ceases  to  be  a  death 
of  infamy.  Therefore  the  Jew  spares  no  pains  to 
destroy  the  faith  in  this  great  fact,  which  is  the  basis 
of  the  apostolic  preaching.  He  points  out,  in  the  first 
place,  that  Christ  is  not  the  only  impostor  who  has 
ventured  on  this  startling  declaration,  and  has  found 
many  credulous  followers.  Pythagoras,  Orpheus,  Her- 
cules, Theseus, — all  these  have  come  back  from  the 
dead,  if  we  may  credit  popular  legends.  Why  should 
that  which  we  treat  as  an  absurd  fable  in  the  history 
of  these  mythical  personages,  become  a  solemn  verity 
when  predicated  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  sudden  darkness, 
the  earthquake,  all  the  signs  which  in  the  Christian 
story  accompanied  His  death — do  they  not  clearly 
point  to  the  legendary  character  of  the  narrative  ? 
"What!  are  we  to  suppose  that  He  who  could  not  save 
Himself  in  life,  left  the  tomb  a  living  man,  and  bearing 
the  visible  marks  of  death  in  His  pierced  hands  ?* 
Again :  who  are  the  witnesses  of  this  miracle  ?  A 
frenzied  woman,  men  under  the  same  spell  of  magic 
arts,  who  have  dreamed  the  thing,  or  have  imagined 
that  what  they  desired  had  really  happened,  if  indeed, 
which  is  more  probable,  they  have  not  designedly  sought 
by  this  falsehood  to  accredit  their  other  impostures. t 
If  the  Christ  had  desired  to  give  full  proof  of  His 
divinity,  He  should  have  shown  Himself  after  His 
resurrection  to  His  enemies,  to  His  judges,  to  all  men, 
in  fine. J  Where  is  He  now,  that  we  may  see  and 
believe  Him?  For  if  it  is  not  possible  for  us  to  believe, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  He  is  come  to  drive  us  into 

*  "On  d))  Z,uv  niv  ovk  i7rr)pKtGtv   iavrip,  vacpbg  S'  avtarrj.     ("  Contra 
Celsum,"  II.  55.) 

f  Aid  toiovtov  \pn><jfxaTO£  dcpopuijv  dWotg  dyvprai.g  napaaxiiv.     (Ibid.) 
%  Ibid.,  II.  63. 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        487 

unbelief,  since  He  was  not  able  to  convince  even  His 
own  disciples."* 

Celsus  has  skilfully  manipulated  the  polemics  of 
Judaism  against  Christianity;  he  has  drawn  all  the 
advantage  possible  from  it,  and  yet  this  is  but  the 
prologue  to  his  own  polemics.  At  length,  he  throws 
off  his  Jewish  mask  to  make  his  home  thrusts.  First 
of  all  he  turns  upon  his  temporary  ally,  and  before 
entering  into  direct  conflict  with  Christianity,  he 
attacks  Judaism  without  mercy,  ignoring  the  fact  that 
he  has  just  now  been  leaning  on  it  for  support.  He 
well  knows  that  the  two  religions  rest  essentially  upon 
the  same  foundation — upon  faith  in  a  personal  God, 
a  free  Agent,  and  the  Creator  of  the  world.  If  he 
succeeds  in  subverting  this  basis,  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  will  be  involved  in  a  common  destruction. 
He  cannot  forget,  moreover,  that  in  spite  of  the  declared 
hostility  between  their  actual  representatives,  the  two 
religions  stand  in  close  connection  ;  the  latter  traces 
itself  back  to  the  former,  it  appeals  to  the  same  sacred 
books,  and  its  roots  lay  hold  of  the  historic  past  of 
Judaism.  It  is  at  Christianity,  therefore,  that  Celsus 
is  still  aiming  even  when  he  attacks  Judaism  ;  this  is 
the  secret  of  his  deadly  animosity  to  the  Jew's  religion. 
"  After  all,"  he  says,  "  the  contest  between  the 
Christians  and  the  Jews  turns  upon  a  mere  bagatelle, 
upon  the  shadow  of  an  ass,  as  runs  the  proverb. t  Both 
are  as  one  on  all  that  is  essential,  and  are  struck  with 
the  same  madness.  In  fact,  the  sole  difference  to  be 
discerned  between  them  is,  that  the  Christians  hold 
that  the  Christ  is  already  come,  while  the  Jews  are  still 
looking  for  Him  in  the  future.  It  is  vain  for  the  latter 
to  pretend   they  are   the   people  of  God:   their   origin 

*  "Contra  Celsum,"  II.  jj,  78.     f  'Ovov  mas  iu'ixv-  (Ibid.,  III.  1.) 


488  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

is  well  known  ;  their  ancestors  were  Egyptian  rebels, 
expelled  ignominiously  from  their  country  for  attempt- 
ing to  introduce  novelties  in  religion.  They  were  the 
Christians  of  their  day;  they  displayed  the  same  factious 
spirit.*  Their  great  prophet  and  lawgiver,  Moses, 
cannot  bear  comparison  with  the  early  legislators  of 
Greece,  such  as  Linus  and  Orpheus.  His  books,  which 
they  are  not  allowed  to  interpret  allegorically,  miserably 
degrade  the  Deity,  by  making  him  a  being  of  human 
passions. t  As  to  the  other  prophets,  their  oracles  are 
not  to  be  named  beside  those  of  the  Pythoness,  by 
which  the  movements  of  whole  nations  have  been 
swayed  and  guided.]:  The  Jews  have  not  even  been 
able  to  preserve  intact  the  belief  in  one  only  God,  for 
by  a  strange  inconsistency,  they  associate  with  Him 
in  their  worship,  heaven  and  the  angels,  though  they 
refuse  their  homage  to  the  shining  lights,  the  moon  and 
the  stars,  which  form  part  of  the  heavens. §  Where 
is  their  superiority  over  other  nations  ?  Their  God  is  not 
their  own,  for  He  is  but  the  Greek  Jupiter  in  a  lower 
form.  Their  institutions  are  borrowed  from  other 
nations;  circumcision  they  derived  from  Egypt.  The 
smoking  ruins  of  their  holy  city,  and  their  dispersion 
among  the  nations,  are  not  arguments  calculated  to 
prove  them  the  people  favoured  of  heaven.  ||  If  we  seek 
a  truly  ancient  and  venerable  nation  that  can  boast 
of  its  remote  origin  and  of  its  past  history,  we  must 
carry  our  researches  not  into  Judaea  but  into  Chal- 
dea."^[  It  is  not  true  that  Celsus  completely  con- 
founds Judaism  with  other  religions;  if  it  were  so,  he 
would  not  attack  it  with  such  virulence.     That  which 

*  'A/JixpoTEpoic;  cuTiov  ytyovivai  rrjg  KaivoTOfiiag  to  (rramd^eiv  irpbg  rb 
koTvov.     (" Contra  Celsum,"  III.  5.)  f  Ibid.,  I.  17,  18. 

I  Ibid.,  VIII.  3.     §  Ibid.,  V.  6.      ||  Ibid.,  V.  41.    1T  Ibid.,  VI.  So. 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        489 

so  moves  his  hatred  is  the  essential  dogma  of  the  Jew's 
religion — the  principle  of  theism,  and  the  doctrine  that 
God  is  one,  and  creation  a  free  act. 

"These  wretched  shepherds,"  he  says,  in  a  passage 
in  which  he  explicitly  recognises  the  original  character 
of  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews, — "these  wretched  shep- 
herds, in  following  their  Moses,  allowed  themselves 
to  be  snared  by  mean  artifices,  worthy  indeed  of  such 
a  race — into  a  belief  in  one  only  God,*  as  if  every  part 
of  the  universe  was  not  divine,  and  the  whole,  God."t 
The  account  of  the  creation  especially  moved  the  mirth 
of  the  philosopher;  it  boldly  confuted  his  Platonic  ideas 
as  to  the  eternity  of  the  world,  and  must  be  got  rid  of 
at  any  cost.;};  This  is  the  grand  point  of  difference 
between  Celsus  and  Christianity;  all  the  other  objections 
are  in  his  eyes  secondary ;  the  great  controversy  is 
between  pantheism  and  theism ;  we  shall  find  him 
therefore   recurring  perpetually  to  this  train  of  ideas. 

From  Judaism  he  passes  to  Christianity,  and  subjects 
it  to  a  most  close  and  searching  inquisition.  He 
neglects  no  argument  that  can  be  urged  against  it, 
availing  himself  equally  of  the  coarsest  calumnies 
of  popular  passion  and  of  the  most  subtle  dialectic 
methods.  His  plan  of  attack  is  very  simple ;  he  first 
pours  a  torrent  of  scorn  upon  the  persons  of  the 
Christians,  and  having  thus  raised  a  mist  of  prejudice, 
rendering  a  calm  and  impartial  examination  impossible, 
he  then  proceeds  to  inquire  into  their  doctrine.  The 
opening  of  his  direct  attack  upon  the  new  religion  is 
utterly  dastardly  and  mean;  he,  at  the  outset,  per- 
fidiously declares  his  adversaries  to  be  rebels,  and  by 

*  'Aypoitcoig  cnrdraig  ipvx<*ywy>)OivTtc,  'iva  kvopurav  tlvai  Qeov.  (''Contra 
Celsum,"  I.  23.) 

f  To  (.itv  o\ov  elvai  Otuv,  to.  Ct  fifprj  ahrov  fti)  Btia.     (Ibid.,  V.  6 ) 
J  Ibid.,  VI.  49,52. 

32 


490  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

thus  placing  them  beyond  the  protection  of  the  law, 
secures  to  himself  the  last  word,  since  he  knows  well 
that  their  voices  will  be  stifled  in  blood,  however 
eloquent  and  conclusive  may  be  their  defence.  One 
cannot  but  ask,  was  it  then  worth  while  to  enter  on 
the  discussion  at  all  ?  This  appeal  of  the  philosopher 
to  the  proconsul  casts  discredit  upon  the  whole  of  his 
argument,  and  enlists  all  generous  minds  on  the  side 
of  his  opponents. 

The  Christians  are  represented  by  Celsus  as  dangerous 
innovators,  who  overturn  social  order  by  breaking  the 
unity  of  the  empire  and  weakening  the  monarchical 
principle,  which  is  its  glory  and  strength.  "  If  all 
were  to  follow  }Tour  example,"  he  says,  "  the  supreme 
head  of  the  government  would  soon  be  forsaken  .  .  .  For 
striking  a  blow  at  this  great  principle,  you  deserve 
to  be  punished."*  Continuing  his  course  of  denuncia- 
tion, Celsus  gives  the  most  untrue  representation  of 
the  assemblies  which  the  Christians  were  compelled 
to  hold  in  secret  ;t  he  compares  their  Agapcz  to  the 
dangerous  associations  proscribed  by  the  law,  because 
they  harboured  seditious  designs.  "  Rebellion,"  he 
says,  "  is  their  bond  of  union;  they  hope  to  inspire 
a  cowardly  fear,  and  thus  to  gain  an  advantage  for 
themselves. "J  The  internal  commotions  of  the  empire, 
he  declares,  had  become  more  frequent  as  the  Christian 
sect  had  increased.  Even  supposing  that  its  adherents 
are  not  movers  of  sedition,  they  are  at  least  useless 
members  of  society,  who  neglect  or  refuse  their  proper 
duties.  The  philosopher  ironically  exhorts  them  to  aid 
the  prince,  to  share  the  burden  of  his  labours  for  their 
country,  to  take  up  arms  for  him,  to  fight  under  his 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  VIII.  68.  ^ 

+  'Q<;  (TuvOiiKctg  KfjvfiSijv  Trpbg  dWi/Xovg  Tzoiov\ikvu>v.      (Ibid.) 

%  Ibid.,  III.  14. 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.         491 

orders.*  Of  what  use  can  the  Christians  be,  he  asks, 
to  an  empire,  the  most  venerable  traditions  of  which 
they  have  trampled  under  foot  ?  Have  they  not  broken 
through  all  the  customs  of  their  nation  ?  Nay,  more; 
they  have  renounced  the  most  sacred  practices;  they 
have  no  temples,  no  sacrifices,  no  statues  of  the 
gods.t  "That  which  has  been  officially  instituted," 
says  this  freethinker,  "  ought  to  be  maintained.  It  is 
not  permissible  to  abrogate  customs  which  have  been 
observed  in  a  country  from  all  time. "J  The  Christians, 
furthermore,  belong  to  no  nation;  they  are  of  no  country; 
no  one  knows  whence  they  come.  Their  deity,  be  he 
who  he  may,  has  surely  marked  his  displeasure  with 
them,-  by  the  accumulation  of  their  miseries.  "  This 
God,  who,  as  you  say,  has  promised  to  load  His  wor- 
shippers with  benefits,  how  has  He  served  you?§  So 
far  from  making  you  possessors  of  the  whole  earth,  He 
has  not  even  left  you  one  foot  of  ground,  not  even  a  hut 
to  call  your  own,  and  if  any  of  you  are  still  found 
wandering  up  and  down  for  a  hiding-place,  you  are 
sought  out  and  slain.  You  are  the  worthy  disciples 
of  a  crucified  master,  yourselves  devoted  to  a  shameful 
death." I  Elsewhere  Celsus,  who  feels  that  after  all 
a  death  courageously  met  does  honour  to  the  doctrine 
which  inspires  it,  sets  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  endurance 
of  the  Christians,  the  condemnation  and  courageous 
end  of  Socrates. If  Deeply  imbued  with  the  proud 
csoterism  of  the  ancient  philosophy,  which  communi- 
cated its  secrets  only  to  some  few  favoured  initiates, 
he   compassionates    a    sect    in    which    all    ranks    are 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  VIII.  73.    ^   f  Ibid.,  VII.  62  ;  VIII.  17.   ( 
X  UafjaXvtip    oi>x    ooiov   tlvai    tu    t$    fipX'fc    vara   tuttovq   vtvojJi>jfikva. 

(Ibid..  V.  25.) 

§  'Opart  una  uxpiXyjatv  Utivovg  rt  Kai  Vfldg.      (Ibid.,  VIII.  69.) 

11  Ibid.,  III.  34.  f  Ibid.,  I.  3. 


492  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

confounded,  and  which  gathers  its  adherents  from  the 
vilest  and  lowest  classes.  The  Christians  are  charlatans 
who,  incapable  of  imposing  on  the  wise  and  cultivated, 
collect  the  dregs  of  the  people  in  the  public  places,  and 
canvass  for  the  support  of  the  ignorant,  of  children, 
and  of  slaves."*  They  in  all  points  resemble  those 
vulgar  tricksters  who  are  silent  in  the  presence  of 
intelligent  men,  but  work  wonders  before  silly  women  ; 
these  low  impostors  often  lead  young  people  to  break 
away  from  the  yoke  of  their  learned  instructors  to  come 
and  listen  to  them  in  the  gymnasium,  or  in  the  workshop 
of  the  shoemaker  or  the  fuller,  where  they  can  be  the 
sole  speakers,  because  none  is  able  to  make  any  reply 
or  objection. t  Celsus  subsequently  makes  a  parody 
on  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  and  all  unwittingly 
renders  homage  to  their  zeal  and  courage,  for  he 
exhibits  them  as  braving  all  dangers,  to  spread  abroad 
their  faith  in  every  place.  He  puts  into  their  lips  the 
following  language:  "I  am  God,  or  the  Son  of  God, 
or  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  come  because  the  world  is  going 
to  perish.     And  you  too,   O  men,  will  perish  because 

of  your  sins.     But   I  would  save  you Blessed 

is  he  who  honours  me All  others  I  devote  to 

eternal   fire They  add   to  these    magnificent 

promises  things  mysterious,  fanatical,  obscure,  in  which 
the  wise  man  can  find  no  meaning.  Everything  is 
made  to  subserve  the  wild  visions  of  these  stupid  or 
designing  men. "J  We  see  how  strange  a  medley 
Celsus  makes  of  various  Scripture  expressions. 

He  bitterly  reproaches  the  new  religion  with  showing 
a  strange   predilection   for  men   of  vicious   lives.     Its 

*  "Evtci  civ  bpwai  jjuipaicia  Kai  oiKorpijSiov  oy^Kov,  KCtl   avot'iTiov   ai>9pio7T(jJV 
ofiiXov.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  III.  50.) 

f  "Itvai  elg  t>)v  yvvaiKU)V~iTiv}  1)  to   cuvrtlov,  7)   to  Kvaduov   TziiQovciv. 

(Ibid.,  111.55.)  X  Ibid.,  VII.  9. 


BOOK  III. — THE  ATTACK  ON  CHRISTIANITY.   493 

Founder,  in  truth,  openly  avowed  that  He  came  not  to 
call  the  righteous  but  sinners.  "  What  is  then  this 
special  prerogative  of  the  wicked  ?"*  Such  a  taunt  cast 
the  infinite  compassion  of  Christ  in  His  teeth,  and 
reproached  the  father  of  the  prodigal  son  with  his 
readiness  to  forgive.  The  man  who  thus  fails  even 
to  conceive  of  the  mercy  of  God,  must  be  equally  at 
a  loss  to  comprehend  humility  in  man.  Thus  Celsus 
says  again  :  "  Those  who  act  as  equitable  judges  will 
not  permit  the  accused  to  fall  at  their  feet  with  groans 
and  tears,  lest  they,  the  judges,  should  be  influenced 
in  their  decisions  rather  by  pity  than  by  equity.  But 
the  God  of  the  Gospel  prefers  base  adulation  to  truth. "t 
Such  is  the  malignant  construction  put  by  Celsus  upon 
the  Christian  virtues. 

After  thus  defaming  the  adherents  of  the  new 
religion,  he  proceeds  to  analyse  their  doctrine.  He 
brings  against  it,  first,  the  charge  of  being  variable  and 
inconstant,  and  of  having  already  split  up  into  the 
differing  creeds  of  numberless  sects.  "  At  the  com- 
mencement," he  says,  "  when  the  Christians  were  few 
in  number,  they  were  all  of  one  mind.  But  when  they 
grew  into  a  numerous  body,  they  at  once  separated 
into  countless  parties,  each  forming  a  faction  of  its  own 
— a  practice  quite  in  conformity  with  their  primitive 
tendency. X  These  all  condemn  one  another,  though 
still  retaining  the  common  name  of  Christians. "§ 

When  he  comes  at  length  to  the  direct  attack  upon 
Christian  doctrine,  he  makes  his  assault  upon  three 
points ;  he  ridicules   the    form    assumed,    he  criticises 

*  TigovvaiiTTi  r)  t&v afiapTtokutv rrpori firing ',  ("Contra Celsum/'III. 64.) 
f  'O  Oeus  0   apa  ov  TTpog  u\>i6nav}  u\\a  irpog  Kokaneiav    diKa£ti.      (Ibid., 
HI.  63.) 

X  'S.TtKTtiQ  iciag  txiiv  tKaaroi  QtXovvi.      (Ibid.,  III.  IO.) 
§  Ibid.,  III.  12. 


494  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  method  followed,  and  finally  endeavours  to  destroy 
the  foundation  on  which  the  teaching  rests.  Such 
a  man  as  Celsus  was  incapable  of  perceiving  true 
greatness  anywhere.  He  could  as  little  appreciate  the 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  as  the  sublimity  of  the  truths 
it  revealed.  The  new  religion  had  abandoned  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  noble  languages  of  Greece  and 
Rome;  it  spoke  to  barbarous  peoples  in  their  own 
rude  tongues,  in  order  to  make  itself  understood.  This 
condescension  seemed  to  Celsus  utterly  mean  and 
unworthy.*  He  spoke  with  contempt  of  the  homely 
and  humble  language  of  the  prophets  and  apostles. t 
As  a  worthy  son  of  Greece,  and  an  enthusiast  for 
artistic  beauty,  the  philosopher  frequently  returned  to 
this  point,  and  bitterly  ridiculed  the  simple  and  trans- 
parent style  of  Scripture,  which  seemed  to  him  so  far 
below  the  requirements  of  a  refined  taste,  but  which  was 
in  truth  so  far  above  him  as  to  be  out  of  reach  of  his 
admiration.  The  idolatry  of  form  had  totally  perverted 
his  aesthetic  feeling,  and  simple  beauty,  like  truth, 
eluded  his  perception ;  it  is  clear  that  the  drapery 
and  ornamentation  of  the  subject  in  hand  would  alone 
engage  his  attention.  Let  us  admit  that,  tried  by  such 
a  test,  the  Gospel  is  but  a  barbarous  book,  but  in 
return  for  such  a  concession,  let  us  ask  if  the  worst 
of  all  barbarism  is  not  that  which  sacrifices  substance 
to  show,  the  thought  to  the  mode  of  speech  ? 

Celsus  is  no  less  severe  on  the  method  of  exposition 
pursued  by  the  Christians  than  he  is  on  its  defects  of 
form.  He  complains  that  it  lacks  all  the  characteris- 
tics of  philosophic  teaching,  and  being  the  offspring 
of   ignorance  and   superstition,  remains  faithful  to  its 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  VIII.  37. 

f  <&i)oiv  tlvai  iCiujTiKovg  \6yovc;.     (Ibid.,  III.  68.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        495 

origin.  It  exhibits  none  of  that  dialectic  learning, 
which  links  propositions  together,  supports  them  by 
powerful  arguments,  and  thus  gradually  carries  reason- 
able conviction  to  the  mind.*  The  Christians  despise 
reason,  which  is  our  sole  defence  against  error  and 
grossest  superstition,  and  which  forbids  our  belief  in 
fanciful  apparitions,  such  as  those  of  Mithra  and 
Hercules.  Many  Christians  will  neither  receive  nor 
give  proofs  of  that  which  they  hold.  Their  ordinary 
language  is:  "Do  not  inquire,  be  satisfied  to  believe; 
faith  will  save  thee.  The  wisdom  of  this  life  is  evil, 
stupidity  is  good."t  The  closing  words  are  evidently 
a  travesty  on  Paul's  declaration  to  the  Corinthians. J 
Celsus  affirmed  that  the  belief  in  the  divinity  of 
Christ  rested  on  no  solid  evidence,  but  simply  on  a 
blind  confidence,  on  a  visionary  assurance. §  We  shall 
see  presently  with  what  lofty  eloquence  and  depth 
of  Christian  wisdom,  Origen  meets  these  objections. 
They  would  be  likely,  nevertheless,  to  produce  a  strong 
impression  on  the  adherents  of  the  ancient  philosophy, 
whose  peculiar  vaunt  was  that  transcendent  dialectic 
skill,  which  they  esteemed  as  the  very  patent  of  intel- 
lectual nobility. 

From  analysing  the  method  of  Christian  teaching, 
Celsus  proceeds  to  the  doctrine  itself.  He  distinguishes 
in  it  two  elements,  the  one  containing  incontestable 
truths,  the  other  unmixed  error  and  superstition.  To 
the  former  he  denies  any  claim  whatever  to  originality. 
That  which  Christianity  holds  of  truth,  it  holds  in 
common  with  philosophy  in  general,  or  with  the  religions 


*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  I.  2. 

t   M>/  t;fra^  d\Xa  rrifTTtvaov  ical    77  TrioTig  aov   owu  <T£.       Kcikov   )'/  l.v 
r<p  fiioj  (rocpia,  dyaOov  c'i)  /nopia.     (Ibid.,  I.  9.) 

I  See  1  Corinth,  iii.  18,  19.  §  "  Contra  Celsum,"  III.  39. 


496  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

which  preceded  it.     This  Celsus  maintains,  first  with 

regard    to    morals,  and    endeavours   to    show  that  the 

Gospel  is  not  entitled  to  the  honour  even  of  purifying 

and    renovating   these.*     He  asserts  that  the  precept 

enjoining  humility,  which  he  has  elsewhere  decried,  is 

borrowed  from  a  passage  in  the  laws  of  Plato,  wrongly 

construed. t     The    severe  condemnation  of  the  love  of 

riches  ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ,  had  been  read  centuries 

before  His  day  in  the  writings  of  the  same  philosopher, 

who  had  declared  that  he  who  is  distinguished  for  his 

wealth    cannot    be    distinguished    for    his    goodness. £ 

Celsus  quoted  the  noblest  passages  from  the  Dialogues 

of  Plato,  in  order  to  establish  against  the  Gospel  the 

charge  of  plagiarism.     Faith  in  immortality,   and  the 

hope  of  the  blessed  life,  were  both  derived  from  the  same 

source,  but  had   become  more  material  and  less  pure 

by  contact  with  Christianity. §     The  ancient  religions 

were  also   examined  to  demonstrate   that  Christianity 

had  gathered  its  spoil  on  all  hands.   This  demonstration 

was  greatly  facilitated  by  the  fact  that  Celsus  never 

drew  any  distinction    between   the   doctrine  of  Christ 

and  His  apostles,  and  the  heresies  which  marred  and 

misrepresented    it,      Thus     he    took    the    Ophites    as 

authentic    exponents    of  the    doctrine   of   Christ,    and 

nothing  could  be  easier  than  to  show  a  striking  analogy 

between  the  religion  of  Zoroaster  and  a  sect  like  that 

of  the  Ophites,  which  had  merely  thrown  a  thin  veil 

of  Christian  terminology  over  its  genuine  Parseeism.|| 

The  adoration    of  Jesus    Christ,   Celsus    regards  as  a 

mere  reproduction  of  the  apotheoses  of  ancient  Greece, 

which  had  exalted  all  its  heroes  to  the  Olympic  mount. 

The  Christians,  he  says,  will  not  admit  that  these  men 

*  'Qg  ov  <j(iw6v  tl  Kal  Kaivbv  }xaQi)fia.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  I.  4.) 
t  Ibid.,  VI.  15.         I  Ibid.,  VI.  16.         §  Ibid.,  VII.  28,  30. 
||   AivtTcrai  ravra  icai  6  Htpou>p  Xoyog.     (Ibid.,  VI.  22,  24.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        497 

of  renown  have  become  gods,  and  yet  they  pretend  that 
their  Jesus  appeared  again  to  them  after  His  death.* 
The  fable  of  Satan  reminds  one  of  the  war  of  the 
Titans, t  with  this  difference,  that  Christianity  grants 
to  the  adversary  of  the  gods  a  long  and  signal  triumph 
before  his  final  defeat.;};  In  short,  the  new  religion 
resembles  that  of  the  Egyptians;  without,  are  majestic 
porticoes,  lofty  pillars,  brilliant  luminaries,  sacred 
ceremonials ;  but  enter  the  building,  and  you  find  only 
a  vile  beast,  a  monkey  or  a  crocodile  upon  the  altar. 
Even  in  Egypt,  however,  we  have  in  Apis  and  Anubis, 
symbols  of  the  heavenly  powers,  but  here  the  basis  of 
the  doctrine  is  sheer  folly. § 

If  Celsus  judges  thus  severely  the  dogmas  which  had 
some  analogy  with  the  philosophies  or  the  religions 
of  pagan  antiquity,  what  may  we  not  expect  from  him 
in  regard  to  those  which  are  exclusively  peculiar  to 
Christianity,  and  which  are  all  more  or  less  closely 
connected  with  the  folly  of  the  cross  ?  He  looks  upon 
Jesus  Christ  as  nothing  better  than  an  impostor,  followed 
by  other  deceivers  equally  worthless.  How  could  he 
account  otherwise  for  so  many  men  accepting  this  tissue 
of  absurdity — this  nameless  folly,  which  styles  itself 
Christianity?  Celsus  concentrates  his  attacks  upon  the 
central  dogma  of  Christianity — Redemption,  and  meets 
it  by  two  objections,  which  seem  to  him  decisive.  He 
accuses  it,  on  the  one  hand,  of  lowering  the  conception 
of  God  by  a  degrading  anthropomorphism ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  of  exalting  human  nature  beyond  all 
reason,  by  encouraging  the  idea  that  for  a  worm  of  the 
earth  like  man,  the  Son  of  God  should  have  left  His 
glory,  and  come  clown  to  suffer  and   die.     The  whole 

:::  "  Contra  Celsum,"  III.  22.  t  Ibid.,  VI.  42. 

§  Ibid.,  III.  17. 


498  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

argument  of  the  Greek  philosopher  turns  on  these  two 
points,  both  of  them  subversive  of  the  bases  of  theism. 
Celsus  reproaches   Christianity  with    degrading  the 
idea  of  Deity,  not  only  by  the  dogma  of  the  incarnation, 
but  by  that  of  creation.    He  had  already  glanced  at  this 
point  in  his  objections  against  Judaism  ;  but  he  recurs 
to  it  with  much  insistance  in  the  second  portion  of  his 
book.      The  narrative  of  Genesis,  which  represents  the 
creative  act  as  the  work  of  several  days,  appears  to  him 
supremely  absurd ;  but  that  which  is  most  of  all  repel- 
lent to  him,  is  the  idea  of  a  free  creation.     From  his 
point    of    view    he   was    undoubtedly   right.       Deeply 
imbued  with  Platonic  dualism,  he  could  not  admit  that 
the  Supreme  Being,  the  first  principle,  the  God  absolute, 
should  have  had  any  contact  with  the  world  of  matter. 
That  theory  of  creation  which  referred  to  the  Supreme 
God  the  origin  of  all  life,  physical  as  well    as  moral, 
came  into  direct   collision  with  his  philosophic  preju- 
dices.      Thus    he    attached   great    importance   to   the 
doctrine  of  demons,  those  intermediate  divine  powers, 
by  which  the  Platonic  system  endeavoured    to  bridge 
over  the   gulf  between  the   ideal  God  and  the  world, 
attributing  to  them  the  organisation  of  matter  and  the 
production   of  corporeal   existences.     A  modified  poly- 
theism thus  furnished  ancient  philosophy  with  valuable 
safeguards  for  the  supposed  ideality  of   the    Supreme 
Being.     Faithful  to  these  principles,  Celsus  combats  at 
once  the  severe  monotheism   of   Christianity  and   the 
Scripture  doctrine  of  creation.     He  cannot  recognise  a 
God  who,  without  any  intervening  agency,  produces  a 
world  of  material  elements.     He  cannot  conceive  of  God 
except  as  a  purely  ideal  being,  having  communication 
with  the  lower  sphere  only  through  the  medium  of  in- 
ferior deities  or  demons.    Paganism  appears  to  him  sus- 


BOOK    III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.         499 

ceptible  of  a  rational  interpretation,  thanks  to  this  living 
chain  of  countless  links,  which,  starting  from  the  lowest 
existence,  finally  fastens  itself  around  the  throne  of  the 
Supreme  God.  On  the  other  hand,  he  can  find  no 
means  of  arriving  at  an  understanding  of  a  religion  like 
Christianity,  which  worships  one  God  alone,  and  attri- 
butes to  Him  the  creation  of  the  entire  world.  Hence 
Celsus  makes  a  determined  opposition,  not  only  to  the 
Christian  conception  of  creation,  but  also  to  that  jealous 
monotheism  which  regards  the  demons  as  accursed 
beings,  and  transforms  these  inferior  gods  into  powers 
of  darkness  to  be  resisted.  "God,"  says  Celsus, 
"according  to  Plato,  has  made  nothing  that  is  mortal; 
He  has  produced  only  the  immortal ;  mortal  beings  are 
the  work  of  another  creation.  The  soul  is  the  work  of 
God ;  the  body  comes  from  the  hand  of  another  creator ; 
it  differs  in  nothing  from  the  worm  and  the  frog;  it  is 
made  of  the  same  substance,  and  has  within  it  the  same 
principle  of  corruption."*  These  other  creators,  by 
whom  matter  is  organised,  are  those  very  inferior  gods 
or  demons,  whom  the  Christians  erroneously  consign  to 
hell.  Thus  the  worship  of  demons  is  closely  connected 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Celsus, 
and  it  is  easily  to  be  understood  that  he  should  defend 
it  with  much  tenacity,  for  on  the  issue  of  this  particular 
question,  secondary  in  importance  as  it  might  at  first 
sight  appear,  depends  the  issue  of  the  conflict  between 
monotheism  and  dualism.  "  Why,"  he  asks,  "  should 
the  worship  of  demons  be  forbidden  us  ?t  Is  not  the 
superintendence    of  every    matter   committed  to  some 

*  'O  ukv  6tug  ouciv  9vi)rbv  hTroiijffev,  dXXd  \iova  rd  dOdvara,  rd  Qvrjrd 
dWioviGTiv  tpya.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  VI.  54.) 

f  Aid  ri  Saifiovag  ov  Otpcnrevreov.  (Ibid.,  VII.  68.  Comp. 
VIII.  2-1 1.) 


500  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

powerful  administrator?"  Celsus  explicitly  acknow- 
ledges that  all  nature  is  under  the  direction  of  demons  ; 
in  fact,  he  holds  that  if  Christians  intend  to  reject 
demoniacal  influence  and  aid,  they  must  renounce  life 
itself.  "  The  fruits  they  eat,  the  wine  they  drink,  the 
water  they  draw,  the  air  they  breathe, — all  these  good 
things  come  to  them  from  some  demon.*  If  they  will 
refuse  their  worship  to  those  who  preside  over  our 
existence,  let  them  take  no  wife,  let  them  have  no 
children  ;  let  them  depart  entirely  out  of  life."  t  Celsus 
mentions  approvingly  the  Egyptian  fable  which  recog- 
nises some  special  demon  or  celestial  being  as  watching 
over  the  health  of  each  separate  part  of  the  body.J 
These  examples  enable  us  definitely  to  understand  his 
point  of  view.  If  he  defends  polytheism,  and  combats 
the  Scriptural  theory  of  the  creation,  he  does  so  as 
the  champion  of  Platonic  dualism,  and  with  a  view  to 
maintain  the  eternal  opposition  between  the  material 
principle  and  the  spiritual. § 

On  the  same  grounds  Celsus  absolutely  rejects  the 
idea  of  moral  evil  and  of  the  Fall.  He  is  led  to  this 
result  by  the  logic  of  his  system.  In  truth,  if  there  is 
no  liberty,  there  is  no  responsibility,  and  consequently 
no  possibility  of  guilt.  Let  it  once  be  granted  that 
evil  results  necessarily  from  the  constitution  of  any 
creature,  and  it  can  no  more  be  imputed  to  him.  The 
argument  may  even  be  carried  further,  and  we  may  say 
that  a  necessary  evil  is  not  truly  an  evil, — that  it  is  so 
only  relatively  and  in  appearance,  but  that  it  forms  an 
ultimate   part  of  the    harmony  of   the   whole,    of  the 

*  Oiiic  apa  7rapd  tivojv  Saipovioi'  itcaara  tovtuiv  XafifiavQvai.  ("Contra 
Celsum,v  VIII.  28.)  f  Ibid..  VIII.  35.  J  Ibid.,  VIII.  58. 

§  Baur  has  admirably  elucidated  Celsus'  doctrine  of  the 
demons. 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.  501 

general  fitness  and  beauty.  Platonism,  in  spite  of 
some  happy  inconsistencies,  in  which  we  recognise  the 
assertion  of  the  indestructible  moral  instinct,  led,  in 
truth,  to  this  metaphysical  optimism,  doubtfully  at  first, 
more  distinctly  in  its  later  and  lower  developments. 
Spirituality  and  unity  constitute  the  essential  good  ; 
it  follows  that  all  that  is  corporeal  and  individual  is 
tainted  with  evil,  and  yet  it  is  a  necessity  that  corporeal 
and  individual  beings  should  exist.  Hence  the  evil  in 
them  contributes  to  the  general  good.  On  this  point 
the  incompatibility  was  absolute  between  Christianity 
and  ancient 'philosophy.  This  appears  clearly  in  the 
declarations  of  Celsus.  He  says  :  "  There  neither  has 
been  in  former  times,  nor  is  there  now,  nor  ever  shall 
be,  an  increase  or  diminution  of  evil.  The  nature  of  the 
universe  is  ever  identical,  and  the  production  of  evil  is 
not  a  variable  quantity."*  This  world,  the  work  of  God, 
is  a  perfect  whole  ;  its  parts  exist  not  for  themselves,  but 
in  connection  with  all  the  rest.  Every  creature  remains 
in  the  rank  in  which  it  was  placed. t  Thus,  evil  has  no 
reality  ;  it  is  absorbed  in  the  universal  harmony.  The 
first  deduction  from  such  a  premise  is,  that  there  can  be 
no  such  thing  as  the  Fall,  or  sin,  and  that  God  has  no 
more  reason  to  be  angry  with  man  than  with  a  monkey, 
or  any  other  such  animal.^  Matter,  which  is  a  neces- 
sary principle,  is  the  sole  source  of  evil.§  We  must 
observe  further,  that  that  which  seems  to  us  evil  is  not 
so  in  reality.  ||  We  do  not  know  that  it  is  not  a  good 
for  some  other  man,  or  for  the  totality  of  beings.    The 


*  Mia  >'/  rioi'  oXojt  (pi'rrtr  mi  >'/  ai'-i).     ("Contra  Celsum,"  IV.  62.) 
f  "0  ct  Koerfiocj  wg  av  9tov  tpyov  uXuicXripov  xai  riXtiov  t£  airavTinv  yivtrai. 
(Ibid.,  IV.  99.)    "  t   Ibid. 

§  "TXy  irp6<jKUTai.     (Ibid.,  IV.  66.) 
|j  "On  kuv  aoi  ti  fioic?]  kcikuv,  ovwuj  cfjXov  tl  kcikui'  tariv.    (Ibid.,  IV.  70.) 


502  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

other  objections  urged  by  Celsus  against  the  Mosaic 
account  of  creation  are  of  less  moment.  He  accuses 
God  of  having  produced  or  provoked  the  rebellion  of 
man  by  the  commandment  given  him,  and  he  lays  the 
fault  of  Adam  to  the  charge  of  the  Creator,  on  the 
pretext  that  it  was  foreseen  ;  for,  according  to  his  view, 
liberty  cannot  subsist  unimpaired  in  presence  of  the 
Divine  foreknowledge.*' 

The  same  arguments  which  invalidate  to  the  philoso- 
pher the  records  of  the  Creation  and  of  the  Fall,  are 
also  subversive  of  the  theory  of  Redemption.  In  fact, 
if  it  is  true  that  God  is  only  an  impalpable  Idea,  raised 
above  the  worlds ;  if  it  is  true  that  His  greatness  con- 
sists in  His  exemption  from  all  contact  with  the  lower 
sphere,  the  sublime  drama  of  Redemption,  as  it  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  Gospel,  is  a  mere  profanation  ; 
it  is  even  impossible  for  a  moment  to  conceive  of  it. 
God  is  good,  beauty,  blessedness;  He  contains  in  Him- 
self all  that  is  most  excellent.  If  He  comes  down  to 
men,  He  must  needs  undergo  a  change  ;  that  change 
cannot  be  other  than  a  diminution  of  His  beauty  and 
blessedness  ;  it  must  be  a  degradation,  consequently 
a  transformation  from  good  to  evil.  But  this  trans- 
formation is  impossible,  for  only  the  perishable  is  sus- 
ceptible of  change ;  that  which  is  immortal  is,  on  the 
contrary,  by  its  own  nature,  immutable.  God,  then, 
cannot  be  the  subject  of  any  change. t  Celsus  goes  so 
far  as  to  brand  as  scandalous  the  idea  of  the  incarnation 
in  any  form.  J  But  supposing  that  such  an  event  had 
been  within  the  range  of  the  possible,  why  should  the 
idea  of  bringing  men  back  to  righteousness  only  have 

*  "Contra  Celsum,"  VI.  63. 

+  Ovk  av  ovv  T<xvrr\v  ri)v  ixtraj5oXi)v  Otbg  c^o/to.      (Ibid.,  IV.  34- ) 

X  Ibid.,  IV.  2. 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.         503 

occurred  to  God  after  so  many  ages  ?  *  Must  we  ac- 
cept the  Christian  notion  that  the  contemplation  of  the 
Most  High,  being  a  thing  difficult  to  finite  natures, 
God  brought  His  Spirit  down  to  dwell  in  a  body  like 
ours,  that  we  might  grasp  and  possess  it  under  this 
form  ?t  But  why,  in  such  a  case,  give  to  His  Spirit  so 
mean  a  dwelling-place  ?  Could  He  not  have  clothed 
Him  in  a  celestial  form  which  would  have  forbidden 
the  possibility  of  doubt  ?J  If  the  Divine  Spirit  really 
animated  the  body  of  Christ,  that  body  should  have 
surpassed  all  other  mortal  forms  in  grandeur,  beauty, 
strength,  and  majesty.  It  is,  in  truth,  impossible  that 
one  who  carries  within  him  a  divine  element  not 
possessed  by  others,  should  not  be  superior  to  them  ; 
and  yet  this  Christ  differed  in  nothing  from  other  men  ; 
He  was,  it  is  said,  small  of  stature,  and  His  face  had 
neither  beauty  nor  nobleness. §  If  God,  like  the  Jupiter 
of  the  drama,  suddenly  awaked  from  long  slumber  to 
save  the  race  of  man,  why  did  He  send  His  Spirit  into 
a  remote  corner  of  the  earth  ?  He  might  have  diffused 
it  through  a  multitude  of  bodies,  and  thus  sent  it 
throughout  the  whole  world.  Are  we  not  struck  with 
the  humorousness  of  the  notion,  when  we  read,  in  a 
comic  Greek  poet,  that  Jupiter,  just  awaked  from  sleep, 
sent-  Mercury  to  the  Athenians  and  Spartans?  "Do 
you  not  give  us  yet  greater  cause  for  laughter,  O  you 
who  declare  that  the  Son  of  God  has  been  sent  to  the 
Jews  ?  ||  It  appears  as  if,  in  His  sleep,  God  had  for- 
gotten the  orders  He  had  previously  given  by  Moses  to 


*  Mtra  Tonourov  aiwva.     ("  Contra  Cclsum,"  IV.  9.) 
f  Ibid.,  VI.  69.  J  Ibid.,  VI.  73.  ^ 

§  'AM  aig  <pdoi  fiiKpov  nai  Ivauoiq  Kal  aytvvtg  ijv.       (Ibid.,  VI.  75.) 
||   Ob  icaraytXacrrorepov  7T£7roii]Ktvai  'lovdaioig  ■Ki\xTrb\t.ivov  tov  Otov  rbv 
v\6v.     (Ibid.,  VI.  78.) 


504  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

His  people ;  for  He  had  commanded  them  to  enrich 
themselves  by  spoil,  to  pour  out  the  blood  of  their 
enemies  like  water,  sparing  neither  small  nor  great. 
And  now,  behold!  this  so-called  Son  of  God  proclaims 
a  law  precisely  contrary.  He  preaches  poverty  and 
forgiveness  of  injuries.  How  can  such  a  contradiction 
be  explained  ?  Has  God  condemned  His  own  legis- 
lation?"* Celsus  concludes  the  whole  of  this  dis- 
cussion of  the  incarnation  by  accusing  the  Christians 
of  having  fallen  into  abject  materialism.  They  desire, 
in  fact,  to  behold  God  with  the  bodily  eye,  instead  of 
resting  satisfied  with  the  moral  intuition  commended 
by  philosophy.  "You  are  the  most  absurd  of  men," 
he  says,  "  you  who  repudiate  as  idols  other  visible  gods, 
in  order  to  worship  yourselves  an  image  which  is  the 
most  contemptible  of  idols.  An  idol,  do  I  say  ?  Nay, 
a  dead  man,  whom  you  call  the  image  of  the  Eternal 
Father  !"t 

Celsus  foresees  that  the  Christians  will  point  to  the 
miracles  of  Christ.  He  proceeds,  therefore,  at  once  to 
reduce  these  to  the  lowest  possible  value.  He  does  not 
deny  them.  He  believes,  like  all  his  contemporaries, 
that  hidden  forces  slumber  in  the  deep  heart  of  nature, 
and  can  be  called  forth  by  magic.  He  does  not,  there- 
fore, call  in  question  the  miraculous  power  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  His  apostles.  "Be  it  so,"  he  says;  "we 
accept  these  facts  as  genuine."  J  But  he  places  these 
miracles  on  a  par  with  the  sorceries  of  the  magicians 
of  Egypt.  Did  any  one  ever  dream  of  regarding  those 
men  as  the  sons  of  God,  who,  for  so  many  coins, 
wrought  a  thousand  prodigies,  cast  out  demons,  called 

*  "H  rwr  iSiu>v  vofiw  fieTsyvu) ;   ("  Contra  Cclsum,"  VII.  18.) 
t  To  5e    w£  a\t)6u,g    tldwXov  aOXiuTtpov,   icai   fiijok  rfduXov  tTi,   a\\'  wg 
vtKpbv  <y'f(5ovTiQ,  Kai  TrciTspa  ofioiov  avTtp  &]TovvTtg.     (Ibid.,  VII.   36.) 
%  Ibid.,  I.  68,  II.  50. 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.  505 

up  the  souls  of  heroes,  and  healed  the  sick  ?  Celsus 
held  that  sorcery  could  exert  its  power  through  men 
who  were  the  captives  of  matter ;  but  this  was  an  ad- 
ditional reason  for  him  to  treat  it  with  contempt, 
and  he  delighted  in  casting  this  reproach  upon  the 
Founder  of  Christianity. 

After  charging  the  new  religion  with  miserably  de- 
grading the  conception  of  God,  Celsus  proceeds  to  his 
next  accusation  against  it,  that  of  unreasonably  exalting 
the  human  creature.  Strange  that  this  proud  philo- 
sopher, who  could  not  find  sarcasms  bitter  enough  to 
express  his  contempt  for  the  humility  enjoined  in  the 
Gospel,  should  take  pleasure  in  depreciating  man,  in 
disputing  his  divine  sonship,  and  tearing  from  his  brow 
the  crown  which  sin  itself  had  not  been  able  wholly 
to  destroy.  The  proud  Platonist,  who  would  be  indig- 
nant to  be  for  a  moment  classed  among  the  humble 
and  ignorant  worshippers  of  a  crucified  Lord,  who 
would  feel  his  dignity  compromised  by  accepting  the 
doctrine  of  the  Fall,  does  not  hesitate  to  inflict  an  in- 
delible brand  upon  humanity.  Epithets  of  adequate 
scorn  fail  him  for  the  miserable  Galileans  who  gather 
round  a  cross  as  their  standard  ;  yet,  proud  philosopher 
as  he  is,  he,  by  his  system,  drags  the  wdiole  race  of 
man  down  into  the  deep  mire,  and  places  him  beneath 
the  brute.  Thus  does  pride  lead  to  the  lowest  place, 
while  humility  rises  to  the  highest.  The  Gospel  pre- 
serves respect  for  humanity,  even  while  it  condemns  ; 
the  philosophy  of  Celsus  degrades  while  it  exculpates. 
Nothing  can  ever  confer  higher  honour  on  humanity 
than  the  doctrine  that  God  lias  given  Himself  a  ransom 
for  it.  There  is  as  much  meanness  as  pride  in  not 
accepting  the  infinite  price  of  our  salvation  ;  for  those 
who  vilify  human  nature  do    so    only  that   they  may 


506  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

dispense  with  the  duty  of  repentance  ;  they  vainly  hope 
to  rise  more  readily  from  a  lower  level. 

The  pretension  of  both  Jews  and  Christians  to  a  share 
in  the  most  amazing  favours  of  the  Deity,  appears  to 
Celsus  the  climax  of  absurdity.  He  compares  them 
to  ants  emerging  from  their  ant-hill,  to  frogs  making  a 
chorus  in  their  marshes,  to  worms  holding  conclave 
in  a  poisonous  slough,  and  devouring  one  another 
while  they  contested,  as  it  were,  for  the  palm  x)f  sin. 
"  It  is  to  us  alone,"  they  say,  "God  reveals  His  pur- 
poses; for  us  He  neglects  the  world,  the  heavens,  and 
all  that  the  earth  contains.  His  care  is  solely  for  us ; 
to  us  alone  He  sends  His  messengers  unceasingly, 
and  His  one  supreme  concern  is  the  manner  in  which 
we  may  be  eternally  united  to  Him."*  These  worms 
of  the  earth  go  so  far  in  their  audacity  as  to  say  :  "  We 
are  the  beings  most  closely  related  to  God ;  He  has 
made  us  entirely  in  His  image. t  All  things  are  subject 
to  us  ;  the  earth,  the  water,  the  air,  the  stars — all  have 
been  created  for  us,  and  are  bound  to  obey  us.  And 
since  some  of  us  are  defiled  by  sin,  God  will  come 
Himself,  or  will  send  His  Son  to  destroy  the  wicked  in 
everlasting  fire,  and  to  bring  us  into  life  eternal."]; 
"  Such  pretensions,"  adds  Celsus,  "  would  be  more 
tolerable  on  the  part  of  worms  or  frogs  than  on  the  part 
of  Jews  or  Christians." 

It  is  not  so  much  on  Jews  and  Christians,  however, 
as  on  human  nature  itself,  that  he  lavishes  his  scorn. 
That  worm  of  the  earth,  which  he  will  crush  with  iron 
heel  into  the  very  dust,  rather  than  allow  the  possibility 

*  Tldv-a  Koaf-iov  Kal  ti)v  ovpav.ov  Qopav  aTroXnrwv,  t)/.uv  /.luvoig  t/i7ro- 
XiTivirm.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  IV.  23.) 

t  Otoe  60T<V,  elra  fxtr  tKtlvov  rjfulg  vtt'  aiirou  yiyovortg  iravry  c/xotoi 
9ey.  ^  (Ibid.,  IV.  23O 

X  'A<pi%£rai  9tbg  ?/  7re/*i//u  tov  v\6v.       (Ibid.,  IV.  23.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        507 

that  a  god  should  have  stooped  from  heaven  to  save  him, 
is  man.  He  finds  an  impious  satisfaction  in  placing 
him  on  the  lowest  step  of  the  scale  of  being;  and  with 
a  view  to  this  end,  he  traces  a  minute  parallel  between 
man  and  the  lower  animals,  which  is  entirely  to  the 
advantage  of  the  latter.  They  live  at  less  cost  to  them- 
selves than  man;  they  have  no  need  to  water  with  the 
sweat  of  their  brow  the  aliments  on  which  they  feed. 
All  nature  is  a  larder  laden  with  plenty  for  them.*  We 
have  no  right  to  esteem  ourselves  better  than  the  beasts 
because  we  hunt  and  devour  them.  They  also  hunt  and 
devour  us,  without  the  trouble  of  training  a  pack  of 
hounds  or  setting  snares. t  Do  men  point  proudly  to  their 
civilisation — to  the  cities  they  build,  the  laws  they  make, 
the  magistrates  they  appoint  ?  Celsus  answers :  "Look  at 
the  ants  and  the  bees.  The  best  regulated  city  in  the  world 
cannot  be  compared  with  a  hive.  That  little  kingdom 
has  its  wars  and  its  victories,  and  the  dead  bodies  of  the 
drones  show  how  rigorously  justice  is  executed.  The 
ants  have  their  regular  interments,  solemnly  performed 
for  their.  dead.J  They  have  a  sufficiency  of  reason, 
a  common  understanding,  generally  accepted  truths, § 
and  it  is  even  possible  that  were  our  ear  fine  enough 
to  catch  the  sound,  we  might  hear  them  conversing 
together.  Any  observer  of  earth  from  the  height  of 
heaven,  would  not  perceive  wherein  lay  the  difference 
between  the  ants  and  men."||  If  it  is  urged  that  man  is 
at  least  a  religious  animal,  Celsus  replies  that  the  birds 
have  as  much  religion.  We  are  even  bound  to  suppose 
that  they  are  in  closer  communion  with  the  gods,  since 
we  address  ourselves  to  the  birds  in  order  to  discover 

*  "  Contra  Cclsum,"  IV.  76.    >    f  Ibid.,  IV.  78.       J  Ibid.,  IV.  84. 
§  Aoyov  ovn7i\ij(jU)<yiQ  tan   Trap     clvtoiq   kui  koivai    tvvoiai   kciOoXikuv 
nvuv.     (Ibid.)  ||  Ibid.,  IV.  85. 


508      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

the  Divine  will.  Elephants  might  give  man  lessons  in 
fidelity  to  engagements,  and  they  merit  the  palm  of  piety.* 
The  beasts  are  then  not  only  wiser -than  man,  they  are 
also  more  precious  in  the  sight  of  God.t  From  all  this 
it  results  that  the  world  was  not  made  for  man,  but  for 
lions,  eagles,  and  dolphins.  It  is  strange  to  see  the 
representative  of  philosophy  thus  exalting  instinct  far 
above  reason,  and  proudly  rejecting  the  folly  of  the  cross 
in  the  name  of  such  humiliating  wisdom.  He  was  led 
to  these  ignoble  conclusions  by  his  pantheism,  which 
completely  removed  the  barrier  between  the  material 
and  moral  world.  Take  away  liberty,  and  man  is  the 
most  miserable  of  creatures. 

This  negation  of  freedom  leads  Celsus  to  declare  the 
great  moral  transformation  which  Christianity  claims 
to  effect  through  the  new  birth,  to  be  an  impossibility. 
"  It  is  evident,"  he  says,  "that  since  sin  is  a  natural 
tendency  developed  by  habit,  neither  punishment  nor 
pardon  can  do  away  with  it.J  Such  therefore  as  man 
is  by  nature,  such  he  will  remain.  Weak  and  wretched 
now,  he  has  no  higher  estate  to  expect  in  the  future; 
the  resurrection  of  the  body  is  an  absurd  fable."  "  The 
Christians,"  he  says  again,  "  are  mad  enough  to  imagine 
that  when  their  God  shall  have  made  the  fire  of  His 
wrath  burn  like  a  furnace,  and  when  the  whole  world 
shall  be  consumed,  they  alone  shall  be  preserved,  and 
not  those  only  who  shall  be  yet  alive  at  the  time,  but 
those  also  who  shall  be  already  dead,  and  that  these, 
clothed  again  in  the  same  bodies,  shall  rise  from  the 
ground.     This  hope  is  a  worthy  consummation  of  their 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  IV.  88.  ^ 

+  Ov  fiovov  <ro<pu)T(pa  tlvai  to.  aXoya  tiov  £wwi>  Ttjg  avQpwiriov  (pvatiog 
a\\d  Kai  6*o(pi\k(TTtpa.     (Ibid.,  IV.  99.) 

J  AijXov  on  tovq  apapTaveiv  irecpvKOTag  T£  Kai  tlQiafikvovg,  ovfciQ  av 
ovSe  ko\6.Z,(x)V  iravry  /JitTafiaXoi  fiijTiyi.  tXtiov.      (Ibid.,  III.  65.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK  ON    CHRISTIANITY.        509 

abject  life.*  Can  the  soul  of  man  desire  to  dwell  for 
ever  in  a  body  that  has  seen  corruption?  How  can 
a  body  turned  to  dust  recover  its  primal  elements? 
The  Christians  reply,  according  to  their  wont,  that  with 
God  all  things  are  possible,  as  if  it  were  possible  for  God 
to  do  things  vile  or  contrary  to  nature.  I  do  not  dispute 
that  God  can  give  to  the  soul  eternal  life ;  but  corpses 
are,  to  use  the  expression  of  Heraclitus,  more  vile  than 
the  clods  of  the  earth.  And  shall  eternal  existence 
be  ascribed  to  this  polluted  flesh?  Such  a  thing,  which 
is  contrary  to  all  reason,  is  neither  in  the  will  nor  in  the 
power  of  God."t  We  trace  in  these  words  the  dominant 
idea  of  the  Platonist.  that  unconquerable  dualism  which 
made  impossible  any  reconciliation  between  him  and 
a  belief  founded  upon  theism. 

Such  was,  in  brief,  this  studied  attack  of  Greek 
philosophy  on  the  Gospel.  Learning,  skill,  irony, 
calumny,  all  were  invoked  and  did  their  utmost.  In 
the  book  of  Celsus,  we  have  evidently  the  last  and  most 
concentrated  effort  of  the  pagan  mind  to  stifle  the  new 
religion.  It  has  been  worth  our  while  to  pause  and 
examine  it,  for  the  vigour  and  art  displayed  in  the  use 
of  its  weapons,  the  care  taken  to  neglect  no  available  re- 
source, the  subtlety  of  argument,  the  close  concatenation 
of  proofs,  the  keenness  of  the  polemics, — all  prove  how 
formidable  an  enemy  Christianity  had  already  shown 
itself  to  the  pagan  world.  By  the  chafing  rage  of  its  op- 
ponents, we  may  measure  the  progress  of  its  influence.^ 

*  'Arfxi'tuc  (TKtaXfjKUiv  y)  t\Trig.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  V.  14.) 
•f"  Sapica  Srj  aiutviov  airotpijvai  Trapa  Xuyov,  ovrt  fiuvXijaerai  6  Qtoq  ovre 
Cwi}(Ttrat.      (Ibid.,  V.   I  3 .) 

X  We  have  drawn  the  plan  of  attack  pursued  by  Celsus  from  the 
fragments  scattered  through  Origen's  great  Apology.  An  attentive 
study  of  these  fragments  has  enabled  us  to  determine  their  connec- 
tion, and  to  arrange  them  on  a  general  principle,  which  imparts  to 
them  a  striking  unity  of  character  and  purpose. 


510  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

(c.)  Attacks  of  Philosophic  Theosophy  upon  Christianity. 

Celsus  represents  the  ancient  philosophic  tradition 
of  Greece  in  his  insolent  disdain  for  all  strange  doctrine, 
and  especially  for  that  which  had  its  origin  in  a  land 
of  barbarism.  But  he  could  not  check  the  strong 
mental  current  setting  in  in  his  day  in  a  very  different 
direction.  No  school  of  the  past,  and  no  ancient  religious 
form,  was  adequate  to  satisfy  men's  minds,  and  the 
majority,  who  were  not  led  by  this  consciousness  of 
moral  unrest  to  embrace  Christianity,  or  to  espouse 
the  Epicurean  philosophy,  took  refuge  in  that  vague 
syncretism  which  mingled  confusedly  all  ideas  and  all 
mysteries,  and  was  not  unwilling  even  to  borrow  more 
than  one  feature  from  Christianity.  This  tendency, 
which  had  caused  the  success  of  the  mysteries  of  Mith- 
ras among  the  popular  ranks,  and  which  had  given 
birth  to  Neo-Platonism,  was  to  present  in  its  turn  an 
opposing  face  to  the  new  religion.  Seeking  to  meet 
the  same  needs,  it  could  not  endure  so  formidable 
a  rivalry;  it  was  unable,  however,  to  assume  an  attitude 
of  violent  hostility.  This  was  forbidden  by  the  breadth 
of  its  eclectic  principles,  and  if  it  was  true  to  itself, 
it  had  no  right  to  repudiate  absolutely  any  form  of 
religion.  In  the  opposition  offered  by  the  representatives 
of  this  school  to  Christian  ideas,  we  shall  not  find  the 
bitterness  of  Celsus  or  the  contemptuous  irony  of  Lucian ; 
in  its  calmness  and  self-restraint  it  was  perhaps  even 
more  fraught  with  danger,  and  it  willingly  left  to  other 
schools  the  task  of  drawing  the  practical  consequences 
from  its  indirect  attacks.  A  very  curious  book  gives  us 
an  acquaintance  with  these  timorous  and  uncandid 
polemics — the  "  History  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  by 
Philostratus."     We   have   already  spoken  of  the  hero 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        51I 

of  this  philosophical  romance,  when  tracing  the  general 
outline  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived;  but  we  then  only 
touched  upon  the  historical  basis  of  the  book,  which 
a  skilful  rhetorician  has  elaborated  into  a  brilliant  fabric. 
These  legendary  embellishments  of  the  facts  will  be  all  we 
have  to  notice  now.  They  are  indeed  full  of  significance 
from  another  than  a  literary  point  of  view.  Philostratus 
is  a  controversialist  disguised  as  a  novelist;  his  aim 
is  to  exalt,  in  opposition  to  the  Messiah  of  the  Christians, 
the  Messiah  of  the  Pythagoreans — the  wise  man  par 
excellence  in  the  estimation  of  the  writer  and  of  his  party. 
He  designs  to  make  the  ideal  evoked  or  realised  by  the 
Gospel  pale  before  another  and  very  different  ideal, 
which  he  deems  far  more  dazzling  in  the  fantastic 
colours  with  which  he  decks  it;  and  that  he  may  lose 
no  advantage,  he  does  not  shrink  from  borrowing  various 
accessories  from  the  sacred  narratives.  In  order  to  be 
satisfied  that  we  are  not  indulging  a  mere  groundless 
supposition,  it  will  suffice  to  point  out  the  circumstances 
under  which  this  book  was  issued.  Philostratus  was 
living  near  to  the  Empress  Julia  Domna,  the  wife 
of  Septimus  Severus,  a  lady  tinctured  with  the  philo- 
sophic eclecticism  which  was  a  few  years  later  to  be 
so  brilliantly  developed  in  her  own  family  at  the  court 
of  Alexander  Severus.  That  the  triumph  of  this  school 
might  be  assured,  it  was  needful  at  any  price  to  supplant 
Christianity,  or  at  least  to  involve  it,  in  spite  of  itself, 
in  the  religious  revolution  to  be  inaugurated  by  the 
eclectic  school.  The  extraordinary  ascendancy  gained 
by  the  new  religion  was  due  in  great  part  to  the  cha- 
racter of  its  Founder,  to  the  sublime  incarnation  of  its 
doctrine  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  There  could 
be  no  surer  method  of  nullifying  its  influence  than 
an  attempt  to  produce  some  similar  effect  on  the  side 


512  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  the  rival  school.  Let  that  school,  too,  show  an 
embodiment  of  its  principles  in  some  illustrious  master. 
No  man  could  so  well  meet  the  requirements  of  this 
daring  design  as  the  famous  magician,  Apollonius  of 
Tyana,  whose  person  had  already  assumed  gigantic  pro- 
portions in  the  popular  imagination,  thanks  to  the  halo 
of  legends  which  had  gathered  around  him.  Might  not 
he  satisfy  all  the  restless  instincts  of  the  age  by  his 
life  of  adventure,  passed  in  traversing  the  world  in 
quest  of  new  beliefs,  by  the  prodigies  which  sprang 
up  everywhere  beneath  his  feet,  and  by  his  hatred  of 
tyranny?  Such  a  man  might  well  form  an  ideal  type 
for  his  school,  and  a  few  tender  traits  might  with 
advantage  be  caught  from  the  hated  stories  of  the 
Gospel,  and  added  to  this  new  figure.  Philostratus 
hoped  thus  to  unite  in  the  person  of  a  single  man, 
who  should  be  at  once  prophet  and  philosopher,  the 
noblest  attributes  of  philosophy  and  religion,  and  to 
satisfy  alike  the  ignorant  masses  and  the  cultivated 
few.  The  life  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana  was  evidently 
composed  with  this  intention.  We  feel  that  the 
author's  whole  endeavour  is  to  represent  the  famous 
magician  as  the  perfect  man,  in  whom  all  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  ancient  world  found  their  response.* 

The  characteristics  borrowed  from  the  Gospels  are 
many  in  the  book  of  Philostratus,  and  are  easily  recog- 
nisable, in  spite  of  the  redundant  ornamentation  with 
which  they  are  overlaid.  Miraculous  signs  announce 
the  appearance  of  Apollonius  in  the  world ;  his  mother 
receives  divine  intimations  of  the   event    in    dreams  ; 

*  Ncander  denies  (wrongly,  in  our  opinion,)  this  polemical  inten- 
tion. ("Kirchen  Geschichte,"  I.  179.)  [Eng.  Trans.  Bonn's  Ed., 
I.  42.]  Baur,  with  his  accustomed  penetration,  makes  it  very  evident, 
although  he  exaggerates  the  conciliatory  tendency  of  the  book  of 
Philostratus. 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        513 

Heaven  itself  intervenes  ;  a  lightning-flash  cleaves  the 
sea,  and  rises  again  into  the  upper  air — the  brilliant 
symbol  of  the  high  destiny  of  the  great  man.*  He 
writes  no  books.  This  is  not  his  mission,  as  it  was  not 
the  mission  of  Christ.  His  language  is  not  pompous, 
subtle,  nor  vulgar,  but  marked  by  a  stern  simplicity. t 
He  skilfully  draws  the  highest  teachings  from  the  sim- 
plest occasions,  and  constantly  uses  parables  taken  from 
field  life. J  His  words  are  compared  to  a  living  spring 
at  which  thirsty  spirits  drink  ;§  a  few  humble  disciples 
follow  him  from  place  to  place,  and  he  devotes  himself 
to  them  with  the  most  complete  abnegation  of  self.  His 
discernment  of  the  thoughts  and  dispositions  of  his 
interlocutors  is  admirable  ;  he  reads  their  very  hearts, 
and  the  life  of  those  who  come  to  him  is  revealed  to  him 
by  a  mysterious  intuition.  ||  The  love  which  he  inspires 
in  his  disciples  is  not,  however,  strong  enough  to  keep 
them  by  his  side  in  the  hour  of  danger ;  the  greater 
part  forsake  him  on  the  eve  of  his  trial.  One  makes 
sickness  a  pretext  for  his  desertion  ;  another,  the  want 
of  money  ;  a  third  wishes  to  see  his  home  once  again  ; 
a  fourth  has  had  terrible  dreams  ;  and  of  his  twenty- 
four  disciples,  eight  only  continue  faithful  to  him  as  far 
as  to  Rome.H  Throughout  the  wrhole  course  of  his  life, 
Apollonius  goes  from  place  to  place,  doing  good,  and 
crowds  everywhere  follow  his  footsteps.  He  makes 
known  purifications  by  which  the  guilty  may  be  cleansed, 
and  sends  them  away  with  the  pardon  of  the  gods.** 
4"  When  he  came  to  Ephesus,  working-men  forsook  their 
occupations   and  followed  him,  some  because  they  ad- 

*  Phllostratus,  "  Life  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana,"  I.  v.    f  Ibid.,  I.  xvii. 
I  Ibid.,  I.  iii;   IV.  iv.     (See  the  parable  of  the  Sparrows.) 
§  Ibid.,  IV.  xxiv.  Ibid.,  VI.  ii. 

H  Ibid.,  IV.xxxviL  **  Ibid.,  VI.  v. 


514  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

mired  his  wisdom,  others,  his  countenance,  his  manner 
of  life,  his  habits,  or  all  these  things  together.  .  .  . 
Many  sick  persons,  seeking  for  health,  went  to  him,  led 
by  a  divine  inspiration/'*  He  delivers  his  simple  dis- 
courses, sometimes  on  the  steps  of  a  temple,  sometimes 
on  the  hills  or  in  the  fields.  He  is  very  severe  on  sen- 
suality and  pride,  and  preaches  to  the  common  people 
the  love  of  wisdom  ;t  his  miracles  carry  his  fame  far 
and  wide. 

There  is  a  transparent  imitation  of  the  Gospel  in  all 
this  general  outline  of  the  life  of  Apollonius.  It  is  still 
more  marked  in  some  special  details  of  the  narrative. 
Apollonius  arrives  at  the  court  of  the  King  of  Babylon, 
and  there  at  once  obtains  great  credit.  An  officer  of  the 
palace  is  taken  in  a  flagrant  act  of  adultery  in  the  harem. 
When  asked  what  punishment  is  to  be  inflicted  on  the 
guilty  pair,  Apollonius  grants  them  pardon. £  At  Rhodes 
he  meets  a  young  man  who  lived  only  for  selfish  ease 
and  pleasure.  The  magician  reproves  him  sternly  for 
his  love  of  riches. §  At  Athens  he  cures  a  young  de- 
moniac, commanding,  with  authority,  the  evil  spirit  to 
come  out  of  his  victim.  The  demon  only  obeys  after 
having  obtained  permission  to  pass  into  a  neighbouring 
statue.  A  young  girl,  of  the  family  of  the  consul  at 
Rome,  had  all  the  appearance  of  death  ;  her  parents 
were  already  mourning  her  decease.  "  I  will  dry 
your  tears,"  said  Apollonius,  and  having  touched  the 
maiden  and  pronounced  a  few  words  over  her,  he 
restores  her  alive  to  her  family.  The  magician  refuses 
any  recompense,  saying  that  it  was  impossible  to 
know  wrhether  life  was  really  extinct  or  not  in  the  form 
he  had  restored.     This  story  is  at  once  a  parody  and  a 

*  Philostratus,  IV.  i.  f  Ibid.,  IV.  ii.  # 

I  Ibid.,  I.  xxxvi.     Compare  John  xii.  §  Ibid.,  V.  xxiii. 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        515 

criticism  upon  the  miracle  performed  by  Christ  in  the 
house  of  Jairus.* 

When  a  prisoner,  and  on  the  eve  of  death,  Apollonius 
tells  his  familiar  disciples  that  he  will  appear  to  them 
at  a  time  when  they  believe  him  to  be  dead ;  and,  in 
truth,  when  they  are  afterwards  assembled  in  deep 
distress,  their  master  suddenly  stands  in  their  midst. 
To  remove  any  apprehension  that  they  are  beholding 
only  a  phantom,  he  commands  them  to  touch  his  body 
with  their  hands,  and,  like  Thomas,  they  are  thus  con- 
vinced of  the  reality  of  his  return. t  Apollonius  has  also 
his  ascension-day  :  in  a  temple  of  Crete  he  disappears 
from  before  the  eyes  of  men,  and  a  chorus  of  young  girls' 
voices  is  heard  welcoming  him  and  singing  this  song : 
"Quit  earth  and  rise,  to  the  highest  heaven  rise  !"J 
Yet  more  ;  he  has  several  times  since  reappeared  to 
men  to  confirm  his  doctrine. 

The  analogies  between  this  life  of  Apollonius  and  the 
life  of  Christ,  are  very  palpable.  The  book  of  Philos- 
tratus  initiates  us  into  the  tactics  of  the  defenders  of 
paganism  ;  they  sought  to  strike  a  blow  at  Christianity 
with  its  own  weapons,  and  to  supplant,  by  imitating  it. 
But  here  also,  as  in  the  mysteries  of  Mithras,  the 
resemblance  is  simply  superficial ;  the  real  dissonances 
are  deep  and  radical.  Apollonius  remains  still  the 
Christ  of  pantheistic  eclecticism,  and  of  oriental  gnos- 
ticism, the  vague  personification  of  its  wandering  and 
fitful  dreams.  He  realises  the  fond  ideal  of  that 
school — the  fusion  of  all  existing  systems.  He  never  ap- 
pears for  a  moment  as  the  bearer  of  a  sovereign  message 
from  heaven,  of  a  new  revelation,  which  abases  all  the 
religions  and  philosophies  of  the  past,  by  proclaiming 
them  impotent  or  insufficient.  No  ;  the  past  preserves 
*  Philostratus,  IV.  xlv.         t  Ibid.,  VIII.  xii.       {  Ibid.,  VIII.  xxxi. 


5l6  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

all  its  claims,  since,  judging  by  the  life  of  the  great 
travelling  theosophist,  the  truth  lies  enclosed  or  con- 
cealed in  the  ancient  creeds  and  schools.  All  that 
Apollonius  does  is  to  part  the  veil  which  hides  it  from 
vulgar  eyes,  and  thus  pagan  antiquity  is  saved  the 
painful  humiliation  which  Christianity  brought  upon 
it  by  the  proclamation  of  a  strange  God.  It  is  ad- 
mitted that  no  religion  or  school  contains  the  whole 
treasure  of  thought  and  faith  necessary  to  mankind ; 
the  precious  fragments  are  scattered  as  it  were  through 
the  whole  world,  and  must  be  gathered  up  one  by  one. 
For  this  purpose,  Apollonius  traverses  so  many  lands  ; 
but  the  treasure  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  found  upon  the 
earth,  and  man  is  not  compelled  to  receive  it  as  a  free 
gift  from  Heaven.  Philostratus  repeatedly  insists  on 
the  veneration  felt  by  his  hero  for  all  the  gods.  When 
he  arrived  in  any  town,  his  first  visit  was  to  the  temple  ; 
he  delighted  in  interrogating  the  priests.  As  soon  as  he 
began  to  teach  in  the  sanctuaries,  the  gods  became  the 
objects  of  greater  reverence,  and  men  pressed  into  the 
holy  places  as  if  they  hoped  to  receive  the  most  generous 
gifts  from  the  divinity.*  Apollonius  took  pleasure  in  all 
holy  places  ;  he  went  assiduously  from  one  to  the  other, 
and  said:  Not  one  god  repels  me!\  He  carried  his 
veneration  for  the  divinities  of  every  order  to  such  a 
length,  that  he  severely  blamed  Hippolytus  for  with- 
holding his  homage  from  Aphrodite. {  He  thus  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  pagan  reaction,  but  it  was 
with  a  view  to  purify  and  expand  paganism.  He  seemed 
to  serve  the  cause  of  progress  by  abjuring  the  narrow 
exclusiveness  which  had  so  long  prevented  the  com- 
mingling of  nations  and  of  ideas.  "  Greece,"  he  said, 
"  is  everywhere  to  a  wise  man.  He  looks  upon  no 
*  Philostratus,  IV.  xli.        t  Ibid.,  V.  xl.         J  Ibid.,  VI.  iii. 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.        517 

country  as  barbarous  which  is  governed  by  the  laws 
of  virtue.'1*  Faithful  to  these  principles,  Apollonius 
travels  over  the  world,  and  slights  no  source  of  informa- 
tion. Following  the  bent  of  the  age  in  which  he 
lived,  he  held  in  highest  estimation  the  wisdom  of  the 
East,  and,  to  acquire  this,  he  undertook  long  and 
perilous  journeys.  He  sought  the  countries  which  had 
the  most  potent  charms  for  the  imagination  of  his  con- 
temporaries. After  visiting  all  the  temples  of  Greece, 
and  being  initiated  into  all  the  mysteries,  he  fixed  his 
abode  for  a  time  at  Babylon,  there  to  hold  intercourse 
with  the  magi.t  On  the  banks  of  the  Nile  he  listened 
to  the  austere  representatives  of  the  most  ancient  order 
of  priesthood  ;J  he  never  stayed  in  his  travels  till  he 
had  conversed  with  the  Brahmins  beneath  the  sacred 
forests  of  India,  and  had  been  initiated  into  their  doctrine 
of  boundless  asceticism.  "  You  have  opened  to  me  the 
gates  of  heaven  by  your  wisdom  !"  he  wrote  to  them 
subsequently.^ 

Philostratus  is  careful  to  place  the  picture  of  these 
distant  travels  of  the  sage  in  highly  poetical  colours  on 
the  canvas.  Apollonius  finds  on  the  Caucasus  the 
fetters  which  bound  Prometheus.  In  Egypt  he  sees 
the  famous  statue  of  Memnon,  and  India  is  to  him  a 
land  of  marvels,  where  strange  animals,  almost  divine, 
tread  the  shores  of  mighty  rivers  beneath  a  dome  of 
giant  trees.  The  popular  imagination  thus  found  every- 
thing to  flatter  and  delight  it  in  the  motley  gospel  of 
Philostratus.  Apollonius  speaks  to  Nature  as  its  lord, 
and  is  always  obeyed ;  he  penetrates  the  mystery  of  its 
hidden  forces,  and  controls  them  at  his  will.  In  vain 
does  Philostratus  attempt  to  distinguish  him  from  the 

*  Philostratus,  I.  xxxv.  t  Ibid.,  I .  xxv. 

X  Ibid.,  VII.  i.  §  Ibid.,  III.  v. 


5l8  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

vulgar  charlatans,  the  fraudulent  sorcerers,  whose 
name  at  this  time  was  legion.  After  all  his  endeavours, 
his  hero  remains  simply  a  magician  still.*  It  was 
indeed  trouble  taken  for  naught,  to  attempt  to  pre- 
sent him  in  any  other  character  to  a  generation  eager 
after  the  marvellous  and  devoted  to  the  arts  of  magic. 
Apollonius  also  gratified  by  his  austerity  the  predilec- 
tions of  an  age  which,  under  the  influence  of  oriental 
doctrines,  was  marked  by  enthusiasm  for  the  ascetic ; 
and  he  inspired  admiration  even  in  those  who  would 
not  have  been  willing  to  bind  themselves  to  so  rigid  a 
course  of  self-mortification.  Full  of  a  lofty  scorn  for 
all  earthly  treasures,  the  sage  rejected  with  disdain  the 
gold  and  diamonds  which  admiring  kings  laid  at  his 
feet.t  As  a  true  disciple  of  Pythagoras,  he  abstained 
entirely  from  the  flesh  of  animals,^  and  renounced  all 
the  gentle  solace  of  domestic  life.  He  walked  barefoot, 
roughly  clad,  possessing  nothing  that  he  could  call  his 
own,  carrying  his  traveller's  staff  in  his  hand — the 
stern  pilgrim  of  philosophy.  "  I  am  bound  to  go,"  he 
said,  "  wherever  wisdom  and  the  god  within  prompt 
me."§  Philostratus  has  recourse  to  a  sure  method  of 
enhancing  yet  more  the  glory  and  influence  of  his  hero, 
by  making  him  a  sort  of  tribune  philosopher,  who  openly 
resists  tyrants,  and  boldly  suffers  for  liberty.  He  speaks 
of  him  as  the  tutor  of  Vespasian,  who  is  supposed  to 
have  learned  from  his  counsels,  how  to  govern  the  world 
with  justice.  "  The  art  of  governing,"  said  Apollonius 
to  the  future  emperor,  "is  the  highest  upon  earth,  but 
it  cannot  be  taught.  I  will  tell  thee,  however,  that 
which  thou  mayst  observe  with  profit.  Look  not 
upon  that  revenue   as  true  riches  which  comes   from 

*  Philostratus,  VIII.  ii.  t  Ibid.,  II.  xl. 

I  Ibid.,  II.  vii.  §  Ibid.,  I.  xviii. 


BOOK    III. — THE    ATTACK    ON    CHRISTIANITY.        519 

men  groaning  under  taxation,  for  that  is  false  and 
blackened  gold  which  is  wrung  from  tears.  Keep 
within  just  bounds  the  liberty  thou  hast  to  do  all  thy 
pleasure,  and  thou  shalt  use  it  well.  Let  the  law,  O 
prince,  reign  over  thee!"*  In  the  presence  of  such 
tyrants  as  Nero  and  Domitian,  Apollonius  shows  him- 
self indomitable  :  he  resists  them  to  their  face.  When 
brought  before  the  bar  of  Domitian,  he  pays  so  little 
regard  to  the  Roman  Csesar,  that  he  does  not  even 
glance  at  him,  and  when  the  accuser  bids  him  look  on 
the  god  of  all  men,  he  lifts  his  eyes  to  heaven. t  For- 
getful of  himself,  he  is  much  more  anxious  to  defend 
the  cause  of  truth  than  to  save  his  own  life.  "  O 
emperor!"  he  exclaims,  "stay  thy  cruelties  and  the 
shedding  of  blood.  Do  to  philosophy  what  thou  will, 
for  it  is  invulnerable  ;  but  cease  to  make  men  weep,  for 
at  this  very  hour  a  terrible  lamentation  rises  from  sea 
and  shore,  to  condemn  the  tongue  of  thy  sycophants, 
who  cause  thee  to  be  hated  of  the  world. "J 

After  his  miraculous  deliverance,  Apollonius,  at 
Ephesus,  announced  to  his  disciples  the  death  of 
Domitian  at  the  very  hour  in  which  the  tyrant  fell.§ 
Apollonius  thus  appears  not  only  as  a  philosophic 
messiah,  an  ascetic,  a  great  magician  ;  he  enacts  also 
the  part  of  a  political  messiah,  and  thus  appeals  to  the 
passions  of  the  people  no  less  than  to  their  imagination 
and  religious  aspirations. 

In  substance,  his  doctrine  contains  nothing  that  is 
original.  He  expresses  the  current  ideas  out  of  which 
sprang  his  Platonism  ;  he  simply  casts  over  them  a  veil 
of  spirituality,  borrowed  from  the  religion  01  Christ. 
Dualism   and   metempsychosis   lie  at  the   basis  of  his 

*  Philostratus,  V.  xxxvi.  t  Ibid.,  VIII.  iv. 

X  Ibid.,  VIII.  vii.  §  Ibid.,  VIII.  xxv. 


520  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

teaching,  and  on  a  convenient  principle  of  allegorism, 
he  sanctions  all  superstitions  and  worships  all  gods. 
His  discourses  bear  the  impress  of  the  mystical  Pla- 
tonism  of  his  age  ;  he  recognises  the  long  chain  of 
intermediary  divinities  which  act  upon  Nature.  He 
preaches  austerity  extending  to  asceticism,  rebukes 
avarice,  and  attaches  much  importance  to  the  inner 
life.  We  discern  the  influence  of  the  new  religion 
when  we  find  him  protesting  against  a  devotion  which 
is  external  only,  and  which  pretends  to  supply  the  lack 
of  piety  and  holiness  by  costly  offerings  and  ostenta- 
tious sacrifices.  "  The  superb  gifts  of  the  guilty,"  he 
says,  "  ought  to  be  regarded,  not  as  an  offering  to  the 
gods,  but  as  the  ransom  for  crimes  committed."  The 
discourses  put  into  his  lips  by  Philostratus  are,  with 
a  few  striking  exceptions,  long  and  tedious,  subtle  and 
cold.  There  is  no  palpitating  life  beneath  those 
pompous  words ;  and  but  for  the  miracles  ascribed  to 
him,  Apollonius  would  have  remained  in  the  deepest 
obscurity,  for  he  had  not  the  power  of  clothing  his 
thoughts  in  language  which  could  give  them  new  life. 

Thus  the  attempt  of  Philostratus  to  set  up  the 
famous  magician  as  the  rival  of  Jesus  Christ,  was 
doomed  to  ignominious  failure  ;  it  remains  on  record 
as  nothing  better  than  a  parody  of  a  sublime  original. 

The  same  school  of  thought  may  have  very  diverse 
exponents.  While  the  eclecticism  of  the  day  found 
elevated  expression  in  the  writings  of  Philostratus,  it 
was  associated  in  the  romance  of  Apuleius  with  all 
that  was  degrading  and  vile.  It  is  not  strange  that  the 
few  words  devoted  to  Christianity  by  this  writer  should 
contain  a  gross  insult.  Describing  one  of  the  heroines 
of  low  degree,  who  are  the  favourite  themes  of  his  im- 
pure muse,  he  gives  it  to  be  understood  that  she  was  a 


BOOK   III. — THE    ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        52I 

Christian,  and  he  ridicules  and  slanders  the  new  re- 
ligion in  the  person  of  this  woman,  whose  vicious  life 
has  reduced  her  to  the  lowest  stage  of  moral  vileness. 
"  She  was,"  he  says,  "  malicious,  cruel,  unchaste,  as 
greedy  over  her  shameful  gains  as  prodigal  in  her  foul 
expenditure, — a  stranger  to  all  good  faith,  the  avowed 
enemy  to  all  virtue  and  modesty.  She  despised  and 
trampled  upon  the  holy  gods  ;  then,  in  the  guise  of 
religion,  she  feigned  the  false  worship  of  one  god,  whom 
she  declared  to  be  God  alone — an  idle  farce,  by  which 
she  deceived  the  world."  * 

Neo-Platonism  occupied  the  forefront  of  the  pagan 
reaction.  It  might  be  foreseen  that  it,  in  its  turn, 
would  assail  Christianity,  for  it  was  well  aware  that 
this  religion  of  the  poor  and  lowly  was  its  victorious 
rival  in  the  empire  of  the  world.  A  man,  who  seemed 
admirably  adapted  to  be  an  apostle  of  the  Christian 
faith,  was  the  vehement  organ  of  this  opposition. 
Porphyry,  in  spite  of  the  elevation  of  his  mind  and 
that  profound  melancholy  which  never  forsook  him, 
remained  an  ardent  adherent  of  paganism.  He  vainly 
imagined  that  he  could  renew  its  life  by  infusing  into  it 
the  transcendent  mysticism  of  his  system.  He  was 
secretly  conscious,  nevertheless,  that  the  ancient  beliefs 
of  polytheism  melted  away  in  his  philosophic  crucible  ; 
still  he  clung  all  the  more  tenaciously  to  the  forms  and 
rites  of  the  religion  of  his  fathers,  and  every  innovation 
in  religious  usage  excited  his  lively  indignation.  He 
wrote  to  his  wife:  "One  must  honour  the  gods  according 
to  the  customs  of  one's  country." t     His  book  "On  the 

*  "Tunc  sprctis  atque  calcatis  divinis  numinibus,  in  vicem 
certae  religionis,  mcntita  sacrilcga  prasumptione  dei,  quern 
predicaret  unicum."  (Apuleius,  "  Metamorph.,"  IX.  Panckoucke 
Edit.,   II.   195.) 

f  Tifiyv  rb  Vtiov  Kara  ra  irarpta.      ("  Epist.  ad  Marcell.") 

34 


522  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Oracles"  contains  a  large  number  of  so-called  oracles, 
all  directed  against  the  Christian  doctrine.  There  we 
find  the  following  passage:  "A  man  came  to  consult 
Apollo  as  to  the  best  means  of  bringing  back  his  wife 
to  the  worship  of  the  national  gods.  The  reply  was, 
that  it  would  be  easier  to  write  on  running  water,  or  to 
fly  through  the  air,  than  to  prevent  a  deluded  woman 
from  worshipping  her  dead  god."*  Elsewhere  Por- 
phyry quotes  an  oracle  opposing  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
though  at  the  same  time  rendering  homage  to  His 
character.  "  The  soul  of  the  pious  man,"  it  is  there 
said,  "after  the  body  has  undergone  certain  sufferings, 
rises  to  the  fields  of  heaven."  Porphyry  adds,  in  the 
form  of  a  commentary,  that  Christ  is  not  to  be  blamed, 
but  those  who  will  make  a  god  of  Him.  Not  con- 
tent with  these  indirect  attacks,  the  Neo-Platonist 
philosopher  composed  an  important  work  against 
Christianity.  Its  title  resembles  that  given  by  Celsus 
to  his  book,  but  its  spirit  is  much  more  serious.  His 
discourses  against  Christianity  were  divided  into  fifteen 
books. t  Of  these  we  possess  only  fragmentary  por- 
tions ;  but  in  the  judgment  of  his  contemporaries  this 
book  breathed  out  bitter  hatred  against  the  Gospel. 
Theodoret  regarded  Porphyry  as  the  most  implacable 
enemy  the  Christians  had.  J  It  is  not  possible  to 
determine  what  was  the  plan  of  his  work.  If  we  may 
judge  from  the  quotations  made  by  the  Fathers,  it  was 
less  philosophical  than  that  of  Celsus.  Porphyry's 
principal  objections  took  the  form  of  three  queries: 
"  i.  Why  was  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  world 
so  long  delayed  ;  and  what  became  of  men  in  the  ages 

*  St.  Augustine,  "  De  Civit.  Dei,"  XVI.  23. 

f  AoyoQ  (pi\a\t)9)]g  irpog  rovg  xpiariavovc. 

%  'O  irav-uv  i)/iiv  exOicrrog.      ("  Gr.  Affect.,"   IO,  12.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        523 

preceding  it?*  2.  On  what  grounds  do  Christians 
reject  the  sacrifices,  if  it  is  true  that  they  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  ?  3.  What 
relation  finally  is  there  between  eternal  punishment 
and  our  sins  ?  Has  not  Jesus  declared  that,  with  the 
measure  we  mete  to  others,  it  shall  be  measured  to 
us  again  ?"  t 

Porphyry's  great  aim  was  to  destroy  the  credibility 
of  Scripture,  and  he  subjected  the  sacred  text  to  a 
minute  examination.  He  passed  in  review  the  books 
of  Moses,  and  refused  to  Christians  the  right  of  having 
recourse  to  an  allegorical  exegesis  in  order  to  evade 
the  difficulties  of  the  text.  The  book  of  Daniel  espe- 
cially was  the  subject  of  his  animadversions;  he  denied 
its  genuineness,  and  asserted  that  the  prophecies 
contained  in  it  had  been  devised  after  the  events,  under 
the  reign  of  Antiochus.|  He  maintained  that  the  style 
of  Daniel  indicates  a  Greek  original  translated  into 
Hebrew. §  The  New  Testament  was  also  subjected  to 
the  test  of  his  skilful  but  ill-affected  criticism.  Some- 
times he  took  exception  to  the  miraculous  elemental 
sometimes  he  charged  Christ  with  self-contradiction, 
as,  for  example,  in  the  fourth  of  John,  where,  after 
telling  His  brethren  that  He  would  not  go  up  to  Jeru- 
salem,^ He  did  repair,  as  we  are  told,  to  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles.  But  he  laid  most  stress  on  the  dispute 
which  took  place  at  Antioch  between  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul.    He  reproached  the  former  with  falling  into  a  gross 

*  "  Quid  egerunt  tot  saeculorum  homines  ante  Christum." 
(Augustine,  "  Epist.,"  cii.) 

f  Augustine,  "  Epist.,"  c.  ;  Hieronymus,  "Epist.,"  exxxiii. ;  "Ad 
Ctesiph.,"  xix.  J  Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xix. 

§   Hieronymus,  "  Procemium  in  Daniel." 

||  Ibid.,  "  Liber  qua^st.  hebraic.  in  Genes." 

IF  Ibid.,  "  Epist.  ad  Pommac^' 


524  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

error;  the  latter  with  giving  way  to  anger;  and  this 
dissentience  between  the  two  leaders  of  the  primitive 
Church  seemed  to  him  to  shake  the  very  foundations 
of  the  Christian  doctrine.*  We  note  in  Porphyry  the 
dawning  tendency  to  exalt  the  teaching  of  the  Master, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  interpretation  given  by  His 
disciples, — a  method  very  effectual  in  disposing  of  the 
Gospel,  which  has  come  down  to  us  only  through  the 
apostles. t 

The  "Life  of  Pythagoras,"  by  Jamblichus,  resembles 
in  many  respects  the  "  Life  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana," 
by  Philostratus ;  it  is  not,  however,  at  all  so  palpably 
an  imitation  of  the  evangelical  narrative.  On  this 
account,  Hierocles,  the  last  of  the  pagan  authors  of  this 
era  who  wrote  against  Christianity,  made  use  of  the 
work  of  Philostratus  rather  than  that  of  Jamblichus, 
to  sustain  his  comparison  of  the  miracles  of  Christ  with 
the  arts  of  the  necromancers.  He  says:  "You  hold 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  God  because  He  restored  sight  to 
some  blind  persons,  and  wrought  other  prodigies  of  a 
similar  kind;  and'yet  the  Greeks  do  not  regard  Apollo- 
nius, the  great  miracle-worker,  as  a  god,  but  only  as  a 
man  favoured  by  the  gods."  Hierocles  boldly  assailed 
the  moral  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  repeated  the 
vile  calumnies  of  Celsus.J  We  know  that  this  contro- 
versialist was  at  the  same  time  a  cruel  proconsul ; 
he  governed  the  province  of  Bithynia,  and  thus  had  it 

*  "  Volens  et  illi  maculam  erroris,  et  huic  procacitatis,  et  in 
commune  ficti  dogmatis  accusare  mendacium  dum  inter  se  ecclesi- 
arum  principes  discrepent."  (Hieronymus,  "  Procemium  in  Gal. 
Epist./'  lxxxix.,  ad  Augustinum.) 

f  On  the  polemics  of  Porphyry  against  Christianity,  see  Hol- 
stenius,  "  Dissertatio  de  vita  et  scriptis  Porphyri."  Baur,  work 
quoted,  p.  408.     A  thesis  by  M.  Rognor,  Montauban,  1847. 

I  Lactantius,  "  De  Morte  Persecutor.,"  v.  2.  Eusebius,  "  Advers. 
Hierocl." 


BOOK   III. — THE   ATTACK   ON    CHRISTIANITY.        525 

in  his  power  to  make  victims  of  opponents  whom  he 
failed  to  convince.  This  is  the  weak  and  unfair  side  of 
all  the  polemics  of  paganism  against  Christianity.  The 
pen  .of  the  writer  is  too  readily  exchanged  for  the  sword 
of  the  executioner.  Pascal  truly  says,  if  we  are  pre- 
disposed to  believe  a  history  the  witnesses  of  which  lay 
down  their  lives  in  its  confirmation,  we  are  on  the 
same  principle  predisposed  to  despise  a  doctrine,  the 
advocates  of  which  put  their  opponents  to  death. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   DEFENCE    OR   APOLOGY   OF   THE    CHRISTIAN    FAITH. 

§  I.  Preliminary  Reflections, 
(a.)    Three  Schools  of  Apologists. 

We  have  seen  how  Christianity,  subjected  to  the 
assaults  of  brute  force  and  of  science,  of  the  sword 
and  of  the  pen,  replied  to  the  former  by  the  heroic 
firmness  of  its  adherents,  who,  laying  down  their 
lives  in  its  defence,  guaranteed  its  enduring  vitality. 
We  have  yet  to  note  its.  response  to  the  onslaught 
of  the  pfoud  wisdom  of  the  ancient  world,  to  that 
haughty  challenge  of  pagan  philosophers  to  which 
we  have  just  listened.  Christianity  has  too  much 
respect  for  the  human  mind  to  be  contented  with  a 
victory  achieved  only  in  the  outer  life,  and  it  is  well 
prepared  to  satisfy  reason,  while  still  holding  it  in  sub- 
jection to  a  higher  power.  The  defender  of  the  Christian 
faith  is  untrue  to  his  mission  if  he  evades  a  fair  dis- 
cussion, and  appeals  instead  to  any  external  authority 
whatever.  His  work  is  to  establish  the  divine  revelation 
upon  solid  evidence,  not  to  cling  to  it  with  a  blind 
tenacity  which  shrinks  from  full  and  candid  examination 
of  its  tenets.  He  is  bound  to  take  his  stand  on  ground 
common  to  all,  and  to  repudiate  any  peculiar  privilege  or 
exemption  as  a  confession  of  weakness,  and  equivalent 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      527 

to  a  pre-acknowledgment  of  defeat.  The  power  of  the 
apologist  may  be  measured  by  his  fearlessness.  It 
is  not  then  surprising  that  the  age  which  gave  birth 
to  the  martyrs,  should  have  produced  also  the  greatest 
apologists.  These  true  philosophers  made  no  evasions, 
used  no  pious  subterfuges  to  excuse  themselves  from 
replying  seriously  to  their  adversaries ;  they  did  not 
seek  an  unworthy  covert  from  dangerous  discussion, 
in  the  divine  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  or  in  the  folly 
of  the  cross.  They  did  not  make  their  sufferings 
a  shield  against  all  attacks,  nor  did  they  consider  that 
the  honourable  wounds  of  the  persecuted  Church  were 
an  adequate  refutation  of  her  assailants.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  new  religion  did  not  allow  a  single 
accusation,  a  single  objection  to  fall  to  the  ground ; 
they  overcame  pagan  philosophy  with  its  own  weapons. 
The  intellectual  superiority  of  Christianity  is  no  less 
marked  than  the  higher  tone  of  its  morals.  It  would 
have  been  strange  had  it  been  otherwise ;  the  bonds 
which  bind  together  man's  moral  and  intellectual  facul- 
ties are  of  such  a  kind,  that  that  which  ennobles  and 
purifies  the  soul  must  ultimately  expand  and  raise  the 
intellect.  Though  Christianity  had  for  its  first  witnesses 
fishermen  from  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  it  was  nevertheless 
itself  the  grandest  of  all  philosophies  ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  Church  had  leisure  to  add  to  its  faith  the 
advantages  of  high  culture,  as  soon  as  it  found  itself 
constrained  by  the  tactics  of  its  assailants  to  plead  its 
cause  before  the  bar  of  science,  its  defenders  took  their 
place  at  the  head  of  the  intellectual  movement  of  their 
day.  It  is  a  capital  error  to  suppose  that  to  renounce 
the  vain  pride  of  reason  is  to  renounce  intellectual 
superiority;  the  apology  of  the  Fathers  gives  striking 
evidence  to  the  contrary. 


52S  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

We  draw  a  line  of  distinction,  among  the  writings 
devoted  to  the  defence  of  Christianity,  between  those 
which  may  be  regarded  as  petitions  to  the  emperors, 
simply  pleading  the  cause  of  the  Christians  against 
injustice,  and  those  which  present  a  full  and  argumen- 
tative apology  of  Gospel  truth.  We  have  before  us  now 
only  the  latter  branch  of  the  defence  of  the  new  religion. 
In  examining  it  we  shall  be  guided  less  by  order  of  time 
than  of  thought ;  and  we  shall  divide  the  apologists  into 
three  classes,  ranged  rather  according  to  the  spirit  and 
purpose,  than  the  date  of  their  works.  The  chrono- 
logical and  philosophical  order,  however,  very  generally 
coincide.  We  distinguish  three  principal  schools  of 
apologists,  each  of  which  is  characterised  by  the 
solution  it  offers  of  the  great  question  of  the  natural 
relations  between  humanity  and  Christianity.  This 
is  clearly  the  essential  problem  for  the  apologist,  since 
his  first  mission  is  to  establish  a  link  between  truth 
and  the  human  soul.  The  method  pursued  and  the 
arguments  used,  will  vary  according  to  the  idea  enter- 
tained by  the  apologist  of  the  existing  relations  between 
man  and  revelation. 

We  shall  find  in  the  Church  of  the  early  ages, 
as  indeed  throughout  all  eras  of  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity, three  different  solutions  of  this  vital  question. 
We  have  first,  two  schools  radically  opposed  to  each 
other;  the  one  recognising  a  deep  affinity  between 
Christianity  and  the  human  conscience,  the  other  reject- 
ing this  consoling  doctrine,  and  affirming  that  every 
spark  of  the  divine  in  the  soul  of  man  was  quenched 
at  the  Fall.  The  former  apologists  are  of  course  anxious 
to  show  the  sympathy  with  Christ  latent  in  the  human 
heart ;  they  appeal  to  the  aspirations  of  the  soul  and 
conscience,  while  they  nevertheless  clearly  avow  that 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      529 

the  best  desires  can  no  more  supersede  revelation  than 
hunger  can  take  the  place  of  the  bread  needed  to  satisfy 
it.  The  apologists  of  the  second  school  seek  to  crush 
human  nature  down  to  the  very  dust  under  its  burden 
of  ignominy,  to  bruise  and  break  and  trample  out  its  very 
life,  that  it  may  be  driven  by  its  utter  wretchedness  and 
despair  to  the  Divine  Redeemer.  The  school  which 
recognises  a  true  affinity  between  the  soul  and  truth 
is  divided  into  two  branches  :  the  one  seeks  for  proofs 
and  witnesses  of  this  affinity  in  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  mankind,  and  traces  striking  manifestations 
of  it  in  the  religions  and  philosophies  of  antiquity;  the 
other  includes  all  the  past  in  one  broad  anathema, 
reviles  alike  philosophers  and  gods,  and  acknowledges 
no  influence  apart  from  Christianity  but  the  natural 
instincts  of  the  human  heart. 

We  shall  commence  our  exposition  of  the  various 
apologies  of  primitive  Christianity  with  the  school  which 
pleaded  its  cause  with  the  greatest  breadth  of  thought. 
Both  antiquity  and  truth  are  on  its  side,  and  its  writings 
are  subscribed  by  the  most  illustrious  names  of  the 
Eastern  Church.  The  second  school  is  headed  by 
Tertullian,  the  Christian  tribune.  Arnobius  introduces 
the  third  by  heaping  insults  on  human  nature,  which 
he  vilifies  with  every  possible  epithet  of  opprobrium. 
We  shall  inquire  what  is  the  plan  of  attack  and  defence 
pursued  by  each  school,  what  is  the  method  of  each, 
and  what  the  use  made  of  the  various  kinds  of  proofs, 
both  external  and  internal.  Substantially  the  great 
problem  remains  still  the  same  ;  it  is  a  matter  of  supreme 
importance  now  as  ever.  The  interest  and  value  of  such 
a  study  need  no  comment. 

We  cite  as  representatives  of  the  most  enlightened 
school  of  apologists,  Justin  Martyr,  Athenagoras,  Cle- 


530  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ment  of  Alexandria,  and  Origen,  in  the  East  ;  in  the 
West,  the  names  of  Hippolytus  and  Minutius  Felix 
alone  deserve  to  be  added  to  this  roll  of  illustrious 
masters.  Justin  enunciates  the  principle  of  his  school 
with  great  precision,  but  is  not  himself  always  faithful 
to  it.  Clement  frees  that  principle  from  the  restrictions 
which  fettered  it  in  the  treatment  of  his  predecessor; 
he  gives  it  a  more  solid  basis,  handling  with  equal 
boldness  and  profundity  the  leading  question — the  rela- 
tions of  reason  and  faith.  In  Origen  we  find  all  the 
fruitful  results  of  the  better  method  handed  down  to 
him,  and  which  he  applies  to  the  most  various  and 
delicate  problems  connected  with  the  defence  of  the 
faith.  With  him  the  apology  of  primitive  Christianity 
reaches  its  culminating  point;  from  that  time  it  steadily 
declines,  and  finally  loses  all  its  power  and  freeness. 
We  shall  especially  aim  to  give  prominence  to  that 
which  is  original  and  individual  in  the  work  of  each  of 
the  defenders  of  the  Christian  faith.  In  substance,  all 
use  the  same  arguments ;  all  set  the  Christian  virtues 
in  strong  contrast  to  the  vices  of  paganism  ;  all  dwell 
on  the  heroism  of  the  martyrs.  In  order  to  avoid  use- 
less repetitions,  we  shall  pass  rapidly  over  this  class 
of  proofs,  until  we  come  to  its  fullest  and  highest 
expression  in  the  work  of  Origen. 

§  II.  The  School  of  Liberal  Apologists, 
(a.)  Melito  and  Justin  Martyr. 

Melito  of  Sardis  did  more  than  present  an  eloquent 
petition  on  behalf  of  the  Christians  to  Marcus  Aurelius  ; 
he  also  wrote  to  the  emperors,  under  the  form  of 
discourses,  an  apology  which,  while  very  concise,  is 
animated  by  the  true   spirit  of  primitive  Christianity, 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.     53I 

and  worthy,  therefore,  to  introduce  the  great  school  of 
liberal  apologists.*  It  breathes  throughout  a  noble 
confidence  in  the  power  of  the  truth  over  man.  The 
author  has  no  wish  that  truth  should  force  its  entrance 
into  the  heart  by  constraint ;  it  is  to  make  use  of  words 
as  a  key  to  unlock  the  cabinet. 

But  the  true  founder  of  the  Christian  apology  is 
Justin  Martyr.  We  have  already  detailed  the  circum- 
stances which  prepared  this  generous,  noble  thinker  to 
apprehend  and  to  lay  down  the  broad  and  suggestive 
principle  of  that  apologetic  school,  which  he  may  be 
said  to  have  initiated.  Our  task  now  is  to  examine  his 
writings,  in  order  to  ascertain  how  he  himself  under- 
stood the  principle,  and  in  what  manner  he  gave 
expression  to  it.t 

Justin,  like  St.  John,  calls  the  Divine  and  Eternal 
Truth,  the  Word.  The  former  disciple  of  Plato  re- 
joiced to  find  in  the  Gospel  the  philosophical  language 
which  had  fascinated  his  youthful  mind,  but  he  truly 
filled  the  old  bottle  with  the  new  wine  of  revelation ; 
the  Word  is  no  longer  in  his  eyes  a  mere  divine  idea, 
vague  and  impersonal,  as  in  the  system  of  Plato  and  of 
Philo.     He  lovingly  recognises  and  adores  in  Him  "the 

*  The  fragments  of  Melito's  Apology  have  been  discovered  by 
Cureton,  in  a  Syriac  MS.  in  the  British  Museum,  which  appears 
to  belong  to  the  7th  century.  The  text,  with  a  Latin  translation 
by  M.  Renan,is  found  in  Vol.  II.  of  the  "  Specilegium  Solemnense," 
edited  by  Dom  Pitra,  p.  38-53. 

t  Beside  the  works  already  referred  to  upon  Justin  Martyr,  I  shall 
quote  the  recently-published  work  of  the  Abbe  Freppel,  entitled, 
"  Les  Apologistes  du  Deuxieme  Siecle,"  Paris,  i860.  It  contains 
an  exposition  of  Justin's  Apology,  somewhat  diffuse,  and  wanting  in 
exactness  on  the  main  points.  The  author  has  inserted  in  his 
book  one  chapter  much  to  be  deplored,  in  which  he  endeavours  to 
show  that  Justin  Martyr  docs  not  claim  liberty  of  conscience  for  all, 
but  only  the  liberty  of  the  truth.  We  enter  an  earnest  protest 
against  this  wretched  sophistry,  which  would  vindicate  all  the  per- 
secutions of  the  past. 


532  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

eternal  and  ineffable  Word  of  God,  who  was  made 
man,  that  by  Himself  sharing  our  sufferings,  we  might 
be  healed.*  Justin  rises  far  above  the  fantastic 
world  of  Eons  into  the  warm  light  of  love  ;  the  Word 
is,  indeed,  to  him,  "the  only  begotten  Son,  who  is  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Father." 

This  Word,  who  is  not  an  idea,  but  a  living  person, 
is,  nevertheless,  essentially  wisdom  and  reason — the 
living,  eternal  Reason.  All  creatures  endowed  with 
intelligence  and  free-will  share  in  His  nature  ;  reason 
is  a  seed  of  the  Word,  a  partial  communication  of  His 
being.  "The  germ  of  the  Word,"  says  Justin,  "is 
implanted  in  every  one  of  the  human  race."t  It  must 
not  be  supposed  that  by  reason,  Justin  intends  merely 
the  intellect  ;  the  Word  is  not  in  man,  any  more  than 
in  God,  simply  an  idea  ;  it  is  the  source  of  all  good  as 
well  as  of  all  knowledge ;  it  is  the  principle  of  the 
moral  as  well  as  of  the  intellectual  life  ;  it  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  higher  life  in  free  and  responsible  beings. 
In  accordance  with  this  view,  Justin  ascribes  to  the 
presence  of  the  seed  of  the  Word  in  man,  all  the  noble 
actions  which  did  honour  to  Greece  and  Rome.  Right- 
eousness sprung  from  the  Word.  All  that  was  truly 
elevated  in  the  virtues  of  the  Stoics,  and,  in  general,  all 
the  virtues  of  the  ancients,  emanated  from  Him.:}; 

It  was  not  possible  to  give  clearer  assertion  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  parentage  of  the  human  soul,  and 
of  its  natural  relation  to  the  Word.  Created  by  Him, 
made  in  His  image,  and  formed,  in  a  manner,  of  His 

*  Tuv  cltto  aytvi}TOv  kcii  dppijrov  fleov  \6yov  TrpoaKVvovp.tv  nai  aymrw/jitv 
IwuSt)  icai  Si  fffiaQ  avOpwTrog  y'eyovtv.  (Justin  Martyr,"  Apologia,"  II., 
"  Opera,"  51.) 

t  Aid  to  tfupvrov  ravrl  y'tvci  avOpuJTrujv  cnrtpp.a  rov  \6yov.    (Ibid.,  1 1.  46.) 
\    Uavrag    roiig   k&v    oTrujaciiTrori.    Kara    \6yov    fiioi/v    aTtovM'Covra^ 
(Ibid.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      533 

substance,  it  is  united  to  Him  by  the  most  intimate 
ties.  In  other  words,  all  that  is  truly  human  is  divine, 
since  it  is  by  this  participation  in  the  nature  of  the 
Word  that  man  is  distinguished  from  the  lower 
creatures.  Christianity,  as  not  a  mere  partial  mani- 
festation of  the  Word,  but  the  complete  revelation  of 
Him,  must  be  regarded  as  pre-eminently  the  religion 
of  mankind.  It  finds  indeed  its  primary  point  of  con- 
tact in  the  higher  nature  of  man  ;  it  recognises  itself  in 
all  the  constituent  elements  of  the  moral  being.  In 
coming  among  us,  it  comes  to  its  own,  and  in  order  to 
establish  its  titles  to  our  confidence,  it  is  enough  for  it 
to  make  fully  evident  this  pre-established  harmony 
between  the  Incarnate  Word  and  the  inner  Word 
dwelling  within  us.  Thus  is  enunciated  the  grand 
fundamental  principle  of  the  Christian  apology.  It  is 
easy  to  recognise,  in  these  profound  views  of  Justin, 
the  influence  of  the  prologue  of  the  Gospel  of  John. 
The  beloved  disciple  was  the  first  to  teach  this  great 
doctrine  of  the  Word.  To  him,  as  to  Justin,  the  Word 
is  the  eternal  and  living  manifestation  of  God,  partially 
communicated  in  creation  to  every  free  and  intelligent 
being,  but  only  fully  revealed  and  given  to  the  world  in 
the  Incarnation.  The  Word  is  the  uncreated  light 
which  lightens  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world, 
and  He  dwelt,  full  of  grace  and  truth,  with  that  race 
which,  by  its  origin,  belonged  to  Him.  John  has  thus 
established  the  essential  relation  between  the  soul  and 
revelation,  between  man  and  the  Word.  He  may  then 
fairly  be  regarded  as  the  great  creator  of  the  Christian 
apology,  for  the  sole  mission  of  that  apology  is  to  fasten 
more  closely  the  links  previously  existing  between 
humanity  and  revelation.  Proof  is  a  thing  impossible 
where  the  points  of  contact  are  wanting  between  the 


534  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

truth  to  be  demonstrated,  and  the  mind  to  be  convinced. 
Without  a  fulcrum,  the  most  powerful  lever  can  raise 
nothing,  and  plays  in  empty  air. 

Justin  having  thus  laid  down  the  principle  of  every 
earnest  apology,  it  remains  for  us  to  ascertain  what 
application  he  made  of  it,  for  granted  that  the  human 
soul  has  within  it  a  germ  of  the  Word,  it  does  not  follow 
that  prior  to  Christianity,  and  outside  the  line  of  posi- 
tive revelations  made  to  one  privileged  portion  of 
humanity,  it  should  have  developed  this  germ.  It  is  at 
least  possible  that  under  the  fatal  influence  exerted  over 
it  ever  since  the  Fall,  it  may  have  let  the  germ  lie  idle 
and  unfruitful,  like  the  talent  of  the  wicked  servant  in 
the  parable.  Such  is  not  Justin  Martyr's  view.  He 
admits  without  reservation  the  gravity  of  the  Fall,  and 
all  its  lamentable  consequences  ;  he  even  exaggerates 
the  direct  influence  of  the  powers  of  darkness  upon 
mankind,  leading  man  away  from  God ;  he  proudly 
maintains  the  superiority  of  the  prophets  to  the  greatest 
of  pagan  sages  ;  but  he  is  nevertheless  persuaded  that 
the  seed  of  the  Word  was  not  unfruitful  in  the  soil  of 
paganism,  and  that,  owing  to  his  divine  origin,  man 
had  a  presentiment  or  dim  prevision  of  the  highest 
truths  of  revelation.  Revelation  was  in  the  ancient 
world  in  the  condition  of  an  undeveloped  germ,  often 
covered  under  with  a  parasitic  vegetation  of  mytholo- 
gical legends,  fostered  by  demoniacal  influence.  Never- 
theless, beneath  this  spurious  growth,  still  remained 
the  immortal  germ.  In  some  pure  souls  of  the  pagan 
world,  it  had  attained  so  beautiful  a  development,  that 
Christianity  may  fairly  claim  them  as  her  own.  Justin 
does  not  hesitate  to  recognise  as  Christians,  some  who 
lived  before  the  coming  of  the  Redeemer.  "  All  the 
truths,"  he  says,  "which  philosophers  and  legislators 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.       535 

have  discovered  and  proclaimed,  they  derived  from  the 
Word,  of  whom  they  had  caught  a  partial  glimpse."* 
The  doctrines  of  Plato  are  not  contrary  to  those  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  we  would  rather  say,  they  are  not  in  all 
points  in  harmony  with  them.t  So  is  it  also  with  other 
philosophers,  as,  for  example,  the  Stoics;  thus  is  it  with 
the  poets  and  historians.  Each  has  recognised  partially 
some  truth  which  was  in  harmony  with  his  being,  by 
the  Light  of  the  Word  implanted  within  him,  and  he 
has  well  expressed  it.J  We  teach  that  Christ  is  the 
first-born  Son  of  God,  that  Word,  the  seed  of  which  is 
in  every  man's  heart.  All  who  have  lived  conformably 
with  the  Word  are  Christians,  even  though  they  may 
have  been  treated  as  atheists  ;  such,  among  the  Greeks, 
were  Socrates  and  Heraclitus,  and,  among  barbarians, 
Abraham,  Ananias,  Azariah,  Misrael,  and  Elias.§  In 
the  same  manner,  those  who  at  the  same  period,  long 
before  Jesus  Christ,  lived  in  opposition  to  reason  and 
the  Word  were  Antichrists,  that  is  to  say,  enemies  to 
Christ,  and  the  murderers  of  men  who  lived  according 
to  the  Word  or  to  reason.  Justin  thus  traces  back  the 
martyrdlogy  of  the  truth  to  the  earliest  ages  of  the 
world.  He  shows  that  philosophers,  like  the  Stoics, 
who  only  presented,  in  the  midst  of  many  inconsis- 
tencies, a  very  faint  realisation  of  the  fragmentary 
doctrine  of  the  Word,  did  not  escape  persecution.  To 
what  ignoble  treatment  was  not  he  subjected,  whom 
Justin  regards  as  the  great  prophet  of  Hellenism,  the 
noble    and    courageous    Socrates,    whose    system    men 

*  Ka-d  Xoyov  ptpog.    ("  Apologia,"  II.,  "  Opera,"  48.) 

f  Ovx  on  ciXXorpid  tan  to.  HXcltujvoq  Ciduyp.ara  rov  Xpiaror,  dXX'  on 
oi'K  tan  7rai>T)i  ofiota.      (Ibid.,  5 1.) 

*  "Atto  fikpoVQ  too  airptpanKOV  diiov  Xoyov  to  avyytrtg  6piui>.      (Ibid.) 

§  01  fiira  \oyou  fiiojoavnc,  xpionavoi  am'  olov  tv"EA\;/ai  /.itv  SivKpdriiQ 
Kai'lIpaicXiirog.      (Ibid.,  83. 1 


53^  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

were  so  ready  to  vaunt  in  opposition  to  the  new  reli- 
gion ?  "  When  Socrates,"  he  says,  "  sought  by  words 
of  truth  and  able  argument  to  free  men  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  demons,  these  caused  him  to  be  put  to 
death  as  an  atheist,  sacrilegious  and  an  innovator,  by 
the  hands  of  the  friends  of  iniquity."*  Justin  applied 
to  the  Hellenists  the  terrible  words  spoken  by  Christ 
to  the  Pharisees:  "Ye  build  the  sepulchres  of  the 
prophets,  and  your  fathers  killed  them."  Greece  forgot 
that  she  had  in  former  times  slain  or  persecuted  the 
illustrious  philosophers  in  whom  now  she  made  her 
boast. 

The  apologist  is  not  content  with  asserting  a  general 
analogy  between  the  teachings  of  ancient  wisdom  and 
the  new  religion ;  he  shows  us  wherein  lay  this  pre- 
conception of  Christianity,  and  he  frees  it  from  the 
errors  or  superstitions  by  which  it  was  darkened.  The 
belief  in  immortality,  in  the  resurrection,  the  expecta- 
tion of  a  future  judgment,  according  to  which  souls 
shall  be  admitted  into  an  abode  of  blessedness  or  cast 
into  Gehenna,  these  are  the  capital  truths  which  the 
philosophers  and  poets  of  antiquity  proclamed  in  anti- 
cipation of  Christ.  Had  not  Plato  taught  that  all  things 
were  created  and  fashioned  by  God,  and  had  not  the 
Stoics  declared  that  the  world  should  be  consumed  by 
fire  ?  To  find  confirmation  of  the  reprobation  of  idolatry 
expressed  by  Christians,  it  was  not  needful  to  have  re- 
course to  a  philosopher.  The  poet  Menander  had  said 
that  he  who  makes  the  idol  is  superior  to  his  work, 
and  the  plaudits  of  Greece  had  greeted  his  words. 
Justin  carries  his  argument  even  further;  he  appeals 
not  only  to  poetry  and  to  philosophy,  but  also  to  the 
popular  religion,  the  testimony  of  which  he  holds  to  be 
*  "Apologia,"  II.  56. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        537 

precious,  rude  as  it  is  in  form.  He  declares  himself 
able  to  discover,  under  the  confused  medley  of  fables 
and  myths,  the  anticipation  of  some  of  the  most  re- 
markable dogmas  of  Christianity.  Why  should  the 
divinity  of  Christ  be  a  stumbling-block  to  the  pagans  ? 
Had  they  not  gone  on  multiplying  apotheoses,  from 
Hercules  down  to  the  last  of  the  Caesars  ?  "  If  we  say 
that  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was  born  of  a  virgin, 
such  an  assertion  can  in  no  way  shock  those,  who 
attribute  an  equally  miraculous  origin  to  Perseus.  If 
the  death  of  our  God  is  an  offence  to  you,  why  do  you 
make  mention  of  the  death  of  most  of  the  sons  of 
Jupiter?  If  the  miracles  of  Christ  seem  to  you  too 
amazing,  speak  you  no  more  of  the  marvellous  cures 
wrought  by  Esculapius  !  "  * 

Justin  committed  the  error  of  not  explaining  clearly 
the  apologetic  value  of  this  analogy  between  pagan 
fables  and  Gospel  history.  The  conclusion  of  his 
reasoning  would  lead  to  the  idea  that  he  desired  simply 
to  establish  the  rights  of  the  Christians  against  their 
persecuting  judges.  He  concludes,  in  fact,  with  these 
words:  "Why  should  the  name  of  Christ  render  us 
the  objects  of  hatred,  since  we  say  the  same  things 
as  the  Greeks  ?  t  But  a  more  careful  study  will 
convince  us.  that  his  design  has  a  much  wider  scope. 
He  wished  first  of  all  to  establish  that  the  great  truths 
of  Christianity  had  on  their  side  the  testimony  of  the 
human  conscience,  as  that  testimony  had  found  ex- 
pression in  philosophy,  and  this  was  perfectly  in 
accordance  with  his  doctrine  of  the  universal  Word. 
He  was  insensibly  led  on  to  point  out  analogies  of  the 

*  "Apologia,"  I.  66,  67. 

t  Td  6/.ioia  Tolg"EX\T)zi  XiyovriQ,  jxovoi  jiiaoufitOa  Ci  ovofia  tov  XpiGTOv. 

Ibid.,  11.68) 

35 


53^  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

same  nature  between  the  Gospel  and  the  religion  of 
the  ancient  world,  but,  soon  shocked  by  the  absurd 
fables  with  which  he  has  to  deal,  he  abandons  his  first 
idea ;  the  thread  of  his  reasoning  breaks  in  his  hand, 
and  he  leaves  unfinished  the  great  apology,  that  which 
establishes  the  ancient  titles  of  Christianity  to  human 
credence,  to  return  to  a  purely  forensic  defence,  which 
is  the  province  of  the  mere  advocate.  He  should  have 
gone  further  on  this  delicate  ground ;  the  apologist 
would  then  have  discovered,  even  in  this  precursive 
parody  of  the  Gospel  history,  even  in  the  fantastic 
creations  of  a  wild  mythology,  the  unchanging  aspira- 
tions of  the  human  heart,  which  anticipated,  as  in  a 
dream,  that  which  it  was  afterwards  to  receive  in  Jesus 
Christ.  But  for  such  a  work,  nothing  less  was  required 
than  the  deep  discerning  eye  of  St.  Paul,  which  could 
read  in  the  inscription  on  the  idol  temple  the  yearning 
cry  of  the  heart  for  God.  The  Christian  apology  was 
but  in  its  infancy,  and  was  not  yet  prepared  to  put  so 
bold  an  interpretation  on  paganism.  This  was  a  stage 
of  advancement  ultimately  to  be  reached  at  Alexandria. 
Justin  had  only  for  the  moment  indicated  the  use  that 
might  be  made  of  the  pagan  myths ;  the  gleam  of  light 
was  too  sudden  and  too  transient  to  leave  on  his  mind 
more  than  a  vague  perception. 

We  here  touch  on  the  grand  imperfection  of  his 
system.  His  conception  of  Christianity  is  rather  of  a 
doctrinal  revelation  than  of  a  divine  work  of  redemption. 
Thus  he  misses  altogether  the  essential  difference  be- 
tween Christianity  and  all  that  had  preceded  it.  Had 
he  seen  in  the  new  religion  primarily  a  work  of  repara- 
tion, the  true  restoration  of  humanity,  he  would  have 
found  no  difficulty  in  distinguishing  it  clearly  from  all 
anterior  philosophies  and  religions,  while  still  holding 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      539 

fast  the  great  idea,  that  everything  in  the  past  pointed 
to  Christ.  Between  the  Gospel  and  all  antecedent 
systems  there  would  then  be  the  same  relations  and 
differences  as  exist  between  a  desire  and  its  satisfaction. 
Desire  stretches  forward  to  grasp  its  object ;  it  makes 
advances  towards  it,  cries  aloud  for  it ;  but  no  desire, 
however  ardent,  can  produce  or  take  the  place  of  its 
object.  In  the  same  manner,  humanity  may  have  had 
yearnings  after  Christianity,  may  have  cried  aloud  for 
it,  but  could  not  have  given  birth  to  it.  Nothing  can 
be  more  legitimate  than  an  appeal  to  these  presenti- 
ments of  the  soul,  which  testify  to  its  inborn  need  of 
Christ,  whether  they  be  expressed  in  popular  myths, 
or  assume  the  more  elevated*  form  of  philosophical 
systems.  It  is  very  certain  that  these  analogies  can 
detract  nothing  from  the  peculiar  character  of  a  religion 
which  is  essentially  a  fact,  and  a  tremendous  fact.  The 
case  stands  differently,  however,  when,  as  with  Justin, 
the  fact  becomes  absorbed  in  the  idea.  The  doctrine, 
the  idea,  was  present,  with  more  or  less  admixture  of 
error  and  superstition,  in  the  divine  aspirations  of  man- 
kind prior  to  Christianity ;  and  the  apologist  who  has 
not  given  to  the  fact  all  its  importance,  is  led  involun- 
tarily to  regard  the  new  religion,  as  but  the  complement 
and  consummation  of  the  ancient  religions  and  philo- 
sophies. It  is  in  this  light  that  Justin  Martyr  too  often 
presents  Christianity. 

We  are  especially  conscious  of  this  defect  in  his 
refutation  of  Judaism.  He  cannot  perceive  the  difference 
between  the  two  Testaments,  and  loses  himself  in  a 
maze  of  allegorical  exegesis.  To  him  belongs,  never- 
theless, the  honourable  distinction  of  being  the  initiator 
of  the  great  Christian  apology. 

^'e   pass   rapidly  over  Athenagoras,  who   added  no- 


540      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

thing  to  the  train  of  argument  presented  by  Justin. 
The  grand  moral  evidence  to  which  he  eloquently 
appeals  does  not  fit  in  with  the  rest  of  his  system ;  it 
seems  like  a  stone  hewn  for  another  edifice.  It  does 
not  enter  into  the  construction  of  his  apology,  or,  at 
least,  does  not  occupy  therein  its  due  position.  We 
must  look  elsewhere  to  mark  what  strength  and  solidity 
it  lends  to  the  Christian  apology  when  it  is  made  its 
basis. 

(b.)  Clement. 

With  Clement  we  enter  upon  the  broadest  and  richest 
apology  of  Christian  antiquity.  Learning  is,  in  him, 
associated  with  much  ♦power  of  original  thought;  in 
penetration  and  argumentative  subtlety  he  equals  the 
most  able  of  Athenian  philosophers,  and  his  large  heart 
and  vivid  imagination  shed  warmth  and  brightness  over 
all  his  reasoning.  In  his  works  we  never  find  the  ex- 
pression of  mere  feeling  filling  up  the  breaches  of  logic  ; 
his  superiority  consists  mainly  in  this,  that  he  engages 
in  his  subject  the  powers  of  the  whole  man — soul  and 
spirit,  reason  and  conscience.  We  have  already  enu- 
merated his  works  in  telling  the  story  of  his  life.  For 
the  present,  we  shall  extract  from  them  only  his  apology 
for  Christianity.  This  divides  itself  naturally  into  two 
parts ;  the  one  is  directed  against  error,  the  other  es- 
tablishes the  claims  of  truth.  The  former  is  less 
original  than  the  latter,  but  both  bear  the  clear  impress 
of  a  superior  mind. 

Interesting  and  valuable  as  is  his  treatment  of  the 
whole  subject,  we  shall  not  now  follow  him  over  ground 
occupied  by  others,  but  shall  devote  our  attention  to 
those  features  of  his  argument  which  are  really  new 
and    original.      Clement,   like  Justin,  starts   from  the 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      54I 

deep  conviction  that  there  still  exists,  notwithstanding 
the  Fall,  an  essential  relation  between  God  and  man. 
He  does  not  for  a  moment  set  the  creature  on  a  par 
with  the  Creator.  He  maintains  the  lofty  barrier  of 
separation  between  the  creature  and  the  self-existent 
Being-,  and  carefully  guards  against  any  possible  pan- 
theistic misconception.  According  to  him  it  would 
be  impiety  to  imagine  that  God  is  like  unto  us,  and 
subject  to  the  fluctuations  of  our  changing  nature.  It 
is  not  possible  to  measure  the  distance  between  our- 
selves and  Him ;  it  is  infinite.  It  would  be  folly  to 
pretend  that  we  are  of  the  same  substance ;  we  are 
neither  an  emanation  from  Him,  nor  a  part  of  Himself. 
He  called  us  into  life  by  a  free  act  of  His  will,  and  our 
higher  nature  is  the  gift  of  His  goodness.  The  divine 
in  us  is  not,  then,  a  necessary  outflow  of  the  Divine 
essence  ;  it  is  communicated  by  the  free  act  of  creation; 
it  is  the  bestowment  of  infinite  love  ;  but  though  thus 
communicated  by  special  grace,  it  is  none  the  less  the 
inalienable  privilege  of  man ;  in  fact,  this  gift  con- 
stitutes the  peculiar  character  of  the  moral  creature.* 

The  great  organ  of  the  divine  element  is  the  Word. 
By  Him  is  given  the  manifestation  of  God,  not  only  in 

*  "Strom.,"  II.  xvii.  74,  j-;.  It  is  in  this  sense  we  interpret  this 
difficult  passage.  In  a  former  lecture  the  author  seems  to  deny- 
altogether  the  Divine  parentage  of  man.  But  a  closer  examination 
shows  that  Clement  was  only  anxious  to  set  aside  the  pantheistic 
notion  of  an  identity  of  essence  between  the  creature  and  the 
Creator-God,  as  appears  clearly  from  the  passage  in  which  he 
establishes  that  we  are  not  the  constituent  elements  of  Deity  :  fa)re 
fiopiujp  ovTutv  avrov.  ("Strom.,"  II.  xvii.  75.1  He  has  certainly 
given  most  sweeping  expression  to  his  idea  in  the  passage  of  which 
we  are  speaking.  It  must  be  explained  and  modified  by  the  general 
principles  of  his  system.  It  is  evident  that  he  simply  wished  to 
establish  the  theory  of  a  free  creation,  in  opposition  to  that  of 
emanation.  "We  are,"  he  says,  "the  workmanship  of  the  Divine 
freedom/'     (Mory  T(£  tpyov  ilvai  too  OiMjuarur  avrov.) 


542      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

revelation,  but  previously  in  creation.  The  moral  life 
of  man  is  a  radiation  from  the  uncreated  light.  Cle- 
ment gives  an  original  and  poetical  form  to  his 
thoughts,  though  surcharged  with  erudite  allusions,  in 
the  commencement  of  his  discourse  to  the  Greeks.  He 
compares  the  influence  of  the  Word  upon  human 
passions  held  in  control  by  Him  to  that  of  Orpheus 
over  the  wild  beasts,  who  lost  their  fierceness  at  the 
harmonious  accents  of  his  voice.  The  Son  of  God, 
having  descended  from  a  higher  world,  caused  the  earth 
to  hear  a  new  song,  which  entranced  while  it  calmed 
those  who  listened  to  it.  The  Gospel  revelation  was 
not,  however,  the  first  anthem  of  the  Word.*  "  When 
He  established  the  beautiful  ordinances  of  the  universe, 
bringing  all  its  elements  into  harmony,  he  drew  forth  a 
glorious  symphony  which  filled  the  world  with  music. t 
This  is  an  immortal  song;  it  is  the  concert  of  beings,  all 
in  true  accord  :  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  all  take 
up  the  strain.  This  music  of  the  universe  is  not  regu- 
lated by  Orphic  measures,  but  by  the  Divine  measure, 
according  to  which  David  modulated  his  psalms.J 
Creation  and  revelation  answer  each  other  in  the  praise 
of  their  Author.  But  in  this  concert  of  creation  the 
sweeter  lyre  of  the  Word,  that  on  which  his  hands 
delight  to  play,  is  not  the  inanimate  and  insensible 
world  :  it  is  man.  In  him  the  sweet  accord  comes  from 
the  union  between  soul  and  body.  Brought  into  har- 
mony by  the  Divine  Spirit,  his  whole  being  makes 
sweet  music  unto  God." 

Clement  carries  out  to  their  full  issues  these  exalted 

*  "Protrept,"  I.  2. 

f  "lva  At)  o\og  6  Kon/.iog  avroj  ap/jov'ia  ysvtjrai.      (Ibid.,  I.  5-) 
X  '  Hp/to«Taro  to  ttclv,  ov  Kara  T))v  Opaiciov  piovaiKTjv,  Kara  £t  ti)v  irarptov 
tov  Btov  (5ov\t)<jiv,  i'jv  i£r/\ai<r£  Aafiid.      (Ibid.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      543 

views  of  human  nature,  but  without  falling  into 
exaggeration.  If  it  is  true  that  man  is  distin 
guished  from  other  beings  by  that  which  is  divine  in 
him,  by  that  which  the  Word  has  communicated  to  him 
of  His  own  essence,  it  is  evident  that  the  truly  human 
and  the  truly  divine  are  one.  The  more  man  develops 
the  higher  life  within  him,  which  he  derives  from  the 
Eternal  Word,  the  more  truly  he  will  be  man,  that  is, 
the  privileged  creature  of  the  Almighty.  Thus,  for 
him  to  violate  the  moral  law,  is  not  only  to  offend  the 
Word,  by  whom  it  was  engraven  on  his  heart  and  who 
lives  in  it  ;*  it  is  also  to  degrade  his  own  nature  ;  he 
renounces  his  place  in  humanity  by  breaking  the  link 
which  unites  him  to  God,  and  falls  into  the  condition 
of  the  mere  animal.  "  He,"  says  Clement,  "who  sins 
against  divine  reason,  or  the  Word,  is  no  longer  a 
rational  being;  he  is  an  animal  deprived  of  reason,  the 
slave  of  his  desires. "t  It  follows  from  all  these  consi- 
derations that  so  far  from  there  being  any  opposition 
between  true  nature  and  revelation,  there  is  between 
them  an  original  and  necessary  harmony.  This  being 
established,  Clement  can  prove  without  difficulty  that 
the  most  divine  religion  is  also  the  most  human. 

The  apologist  is  not  satisfied  with  stating  as  a  prin- 
ciple, the  agreement  subsisting  between  man  and  the 
Word.  He  seeks  to  demonstrate  that  man,  in  his 
actual  condition,  is  constituted  for  the  Wrord  as  the 
Word  is  historically  manifested  in  Christianity;  and 
here  commences  his  apology,  properly  so  called,  for  the 
new  religion.  If,  in  fact,  it  is  proved  that  revelation 
satisfies  the  heart  and  the  mind,  its  titles  to  our  confi- 

*  "Paedag.,"  I.  xiii.  §  101. 

f  Ov   yap  tan  Xoyitcbg  In  0   irapa  \6yov  apaprdviov,  6i]piov  ce  dXoyov. 

(Ibid.) 


544  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

dence  ought  to  be  deemed  sufficient,  and  we  have  but 
to  accept  it.  All  assurance  ultimately  rests  upon  a 
correspondence  of  the  soul  or  spirit  with  the  order  of 
truth,  which  we  are  to  appropriate.  So  long  as  this 
relation  is  not  established,  there  may  be  blind  submis- 
sion, enforced  adherence,  but  there  is  no  conviction  ; 
the  requisite  evidence  is  wanting.  Now  that  which  is 
not  proved,  is  to  the  mind  as  though  it  had  no  existence. 
Such  are  the  general  laws,  of  certainty.  Clement  accepts 
them  in  their  integrity  ;  he  asks  no  privilege,  no  im- 
munity, because  he  well  knows  that  anything  that 
might  seem  to  be  gained  by  such  means  would  ulti- 
mately prove  loss.  He  undertakes  to  show  that  the 
certainty  of  the  Christian  is  a  genuine  assurance, 
obtained  by  legitimate  methods  and  in  conformity  with 
the  unalterable  laws  which  govern  the  world  of  mind. 
His  task  will  not  be  an  easy  one,  for  like  all  the 
defenders  of  Christianity,  he  will  have  to  combat  deeply 
rooted  prejudices.  In  truth,  the  representatives  of 
purely  human  philosophy  compassionate  the  disciples 
of  Christ.  They  maintain  a  radical  opposition  between 
reason  and  faith,  as  if  reason  was  always  enlightened 
and  faith  blind.  To  hear  them,  one  might  suppose 
reason  to  be  the  peculium  of  their  school ;  that  it  would 
be  sought  for  in  vain  beyond  the  limits  of  their  systems, 
and  that  the  faith  of  the  Christians  is  simple  irration- 
ality. Such  estimates  are  formed  on  a  basis  of  idle 
prejudice.  This  Clement  is  about  to  show  in  treating 
the  great  question  of  the  relations  of  reason  and  faith, 
with  a  depth  and  strength  of  argument  which  have  not 
yet  been  surpassed.  The  boldness  of  his  apologetic 
method  has  often  prevented  his  being  even  understood. 
He  refutes,  in  the  first  place,  the  notion  that  Chris- 
tianity sacrifices  reason  to  iaith.     The  two  are,  as  he 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      545 

represents,  two  modes  of  gaining  knowledge  which 
supplement  each  other,  and  which  are  both  legitimate 
and  indispensable,  each  in  its  own  sphere.  Intelligence 
is  a  gift  of  God  of  which  we  are  to  make  habitual  use;* 
but  reason,  left  to  itself,  does  not  communicate  the  sub- 
stance of  truth,  those  hrst  principles  which  constitute 
the  essence  of  religion.  The  method  by  which  we  rise 
to  the  apprehension  of  these  principles  is  at  once  more 
elevated  and  more  rapid  than  any  which  reason  teaches 
us.  Reason,  however,  is  not  less  called  into  exercise 
to  enable  us  to  trace  back  consequences  to  their  pre- 
mises, or  to  follow  out  premises  to  their  final  con- 
clusions ;  it  alone  unrolls  before  our  eyes  the  serried 
lines  of  argument.  It  is  reason,  also,  which  enables  us  to 
distinguish  the  analogies  and  differences  of  things,  even 
to  their  finest  shades,  and  which  teaches  us  to  avoid 
that  vague  indeterminateness  of  expression  which  is  so 
dangerous  and  so  fertile  in  errors,  even  when  treating 
of  the  sacred  texts. t  Logic,  that  lawgiver  of  the  world 
of  thought,  lends  very  precious  aid  to  the  Christian. 
After  all,  speech  is  an  act,  and  it  is  of  moment  that 
this  act  should  be  in  conformity  with  reason  and  with 
the  right. X  Thus  regarded,  logic  is,  as  it  were,  the 
morality  of  language,  but  it  has  a  yet  more  elevated 
part  to  perform ;  beneath  the  word  it  discerns  the 
thought,  and  teaches  us  to  ascend  from  the  particular 
to  the  general,  to  group  and  distinguish  ideas. §  This 
noble  science  is  as  a  rampart  which  impedes  the  pro- 
gress of  the  sophists,  and  prevents  them  from  trampling 
on   the  truth.  ||      It  is  therefore  very  necessary  that  he 

*  Tr/v  avveoiv   tiin-iji-Tuv.     ("Strom.,"  V.  viii.  §  62.) 
+   Ibid.,  VI-  x.  §  82. 

+  Oi>xi  *••<<<  rbXkyeiv  'ioyov  iari •  (Ibid.,  I.  ix.  .^45.)    §  Ibid.,  I.  ix.  ^  44  ) 
II    Olov  UpLytcnr  tern   SiaXsKTiKr)  o>r  id)  KUT(i~ciruaUat  ~(>u<j   rilf  oucpioruv 
rt)v  dXijOuav.     (Ibid.,  VI.  x.  ^  81  ) 


546  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

who  will  sustain  the  cause  of  God,  should  be  versed  in 
philosophical  studies.  All  human  sciences  may  bring 
their  tribute  to  Christianity  ;  it  will  borrow  from  each, 
weapons  for  the  defence  of  its  cause,  and  will  regard 
all  as  potent  auxiliaries  to  be  arrayed  under  its 
standard.*  This  breadth  of  view  was  a  source  of 
perpetual  apprehension  to  timid  Christians,  who  would 
gladly  have  placed  a  deep  gulf  between  Christianity 
and  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients.  Clement,  as  he  un- 
folded these  grand  views  of  truth,  heard  the  displeased 
murmurs  of  the  bigoted  and  narrow  party,  ever  ready 
to  condemn  that  which  passes  its  comprehension.  We 
feel,  from  the  emphasis  with  which  he  speaks,  that 
he  had  been  irritated  by  the  clamour  of  those  who,  in 
the  pride  of  ignorance,  reviled  the  superior  knowledge 
which  they  could  not  attain,  and  chafed  under  a 
galling  sense  of  hopeless  inferiority.  "There  are 
men,"  says  Clement  ironically,  "  so  admirably  endowed 
that  they  think  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  philo- 
sophy, logic,  or  even  the  study  of  nature,  but  that 
pure  and  simple  faith  is  all-sufficient."  t  Thus  to 
despise  knowledge  is  to  seek  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  without  taking  the  pains  to  cultivate  it.  Human 
knowledge  does  not  plant  the  heavenly  vine ;  we  do  not 
owe  to  it  the  stock  whence  we  derive  life  and  sap ; 
nevertheless,  by  assiduous  cultivation,  it  promotes  the 
fruitfulness  of  the  vine.!  If  the  soul  grasps  the  essence 
of  truth  in  an  instant  by  intuition,  it  does  not  follow  that 
the  development  of  the  thought  is  to  no  purpose;  just 
as  education  strikes  from  our  hearts  the  sparks  of 
truth  placed  there  by  God,  so  does  science  develop  all 

*  "Strom.,"  VI.  x.  §  S2. 

T   Movtjv  icat  \pi\))i>  Tt)vmo7iv  uTToi-ovoiv.     (Ibid.,  I.  ix.  §  43.) 

+    Ibid. 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.       547 

the  treasures  of  faith.  To  the  objection  that  ignorance 
itself  can  comprehend  the  Gospel,  Clement  nobly  replies, 
that  the  Christian  knows  not  only  how  to  live  in 
poverty,  but  also  in  wealth.*  None,  after  all,  dispense 
entirely  with  logic,  and  those  who  emphatically  assume 
the  name  of  the  orthodox  make  use  of  philosophy  un- 
wittingly every  time  they  speak  reasonably.!  It  is  idle 
to  lay  a  ban  on  mental  culture  and  free  inquiry,  and 
to  appeal  only  to  the  simplicity  of  the  faith.  Clement 
urges  that  God  has  spoken  to  man  in  very  various  ways, 
and  that  it  is  not  so  simple  and  so  easy  as  men  think  to 
exhaust  the  riches  of  a  revelation  which  is,  like  its 
Author,  infinite.:]:  The  narrow-minded  fear  philosophy 
as  children  fear  ghosts. §  They  are  afraid,  they  say, 
that  it  will  lead  them  astray,  and  destroy  their  faith. 
In  that  case  they  have  not  much  to  lose.  "  If  their 
faith,  I  do  not  say  their  knowledge,  is  of  such  a  kind, 
that  it  is  at  the  mercy  of  a  mere  trick  of  words,  then 
let  them  lose  it,!|  for  their  base  fear  proves  clearly 
that  what  they  think  they  possess  is  not  the  truth. 
Truth  is  invincible ;  error  alone  is  soon  dissipated. 
Whoever  confesses  that  he  is  wavering  in  his  faith, 
avows  by  that  confession  that  he  has  neither  the 
touch-stone  of  the  money-changer,  nor  the  criterion  of 
truth. "If  What  right  has  he  to  sit  at  that  table  where 
pieces  of  money  of  every  sort  are  presented,  if  he 
cannot  distinguish  between  the  true  and  the  false  ? 
The  righteous,  says  David,  shall  stand  fast  for  ever. 
Nothing  can  move  him  ;   he  possesses  the  incorruptible 

*  "  Strom.,"  I.  vi.  §  31. 

f  Oi  6p9oduZa<TT(u  rakovfitvot.     (Ibid.,  I.  ix.  ?  45.) 

J    UoXvptpwr  ku'i  7ro\vTf)6~tjjr  \a\i)(rac,  ov\  "~\wf  yviooi&TCti.      (Ibid., 
VI.  x.  §  81.) 

§    HaOtnrep  o't  Tralctc  rd  nopnoXvKcia.      (Ibid.,  VI.  X.  §  80.) 

||  AM)™.     Ubid.,  IV.  x.  §  81.)  H  Ibid.,  VI.  x.  §  81. 


548  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

inheritance,  and  is  so  much  the  more  secure  against 
the  subtleties  of  language  if  he  has  not  despised  the 
study  of  logic,  and  can  but  use  skill  so  acquired  in 
detecting  sophistries. 

The  supposed  opposition  between  reason  and  faith 
thus  falls  to  the  ground,  but  only  if  it  is  well  under- 
stood that  reason  shall  restrict  itself  within  its  own 
domain,  and  shall  not  claim  the  power  of  revealing 
first  principles.  Reason  does  not  produce  truth  as 
a  tree  produces  its  fruit ;  its  province  is  neither  to  in- 
vent nor  to  discover,  but  simply  to  receive  truth  ;  all  its 
toil  would  be  in  vain,  if  it  did  not  receive  from  a  higher 
power  the  materials  upon  which  it  may  usefully  work. 
That  higher  power  is  faith.  Let  it  not  be  said  that 
Christianity,  by  assuming  this  ground,  places  itself 
outside  the  conditions  of  a  rational  doctrine,  and 
claims  a  blind  assent.  On  the  contrary,  it  remains 
faithful  to  the  universal  laws  of  knowledge.  All  science 
commences  with  an  act  of  faith,  that  is  to  say,  by  a 
direct  intuition  of  the  first  principles  upon  which  it 
rests.  It  is  not  by  the  long  and  winding  path  of  logic 
that  first  truths  are  reached ;  they  present  themselves 
to  the  mind,  impress  themselves  upon  it.  Indis- 
putable axioms  are  not  the  results  of  discussion,  for, 
in  that  case,  discussion  might  undo  its  own  work. 
Evidence  on  any  subject  proceeds  therefore  first  of 
all  from  faith,  for  what  is  faith  but  the  sudden  intuition 
by  which  truth  is  presented  to,  and  grasped  by,  the 
mind  ? 

The  representatives  of  human  science  most  opposed 
to  Christianity,  are  bound  to  admit  the  lawfulness 
of  such  a  method.  Epicurus  calls  faith  an  antici- 
pation of  the  mind,  that  is  to  say,  a  spontaneous 
movement  of  thought  towards  that  which  is  evident, 


BOOK    IIL — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.     549 

or  a  lively  perception  of  the  evidence.*  According  to 
him,  any  demonstration  is  impossible  without  this 
anticipation  of  the  truth,  which  precedes  its  logical 
development.  Aristotle  expressed  the  same  idea  when 
he  said  that  the  test  of  truth  is  faith ;  t  and  the  divine 
Plato  declared,  in  the  book  of  the  law,  that  he  is  happy 
who  is  made  from  the  beginning  a  participant  of  the 
truth.  This  direct  participation  is,  in  his  view,  the 
royal  road  to  truth. { 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  faith  initiates  us  into 
the  spiritual  world  alone.  Those  who  neglect  faith  will 
be  as  unable  to  comprehend  nature  as  grace.  He  who 
will  believe  in  nothing  but  a  sensible  experience  or 
logical  demonstration,  placing  his  finger  as  it  were  on 
that  which  can  be  grasped  and  felt,  will  perceive  only 
the  grosser  elements  of  the  world ;  he  confounds  matter 
and  spirit,  the  creation  and  the  Creator.  The  first 
principle  eludes  him  under  the  multiplicity  of  its 
manifestations;  and  thus  it  will  be,  until  by  faith — that 
is,  by  direct  intuition — he  rises  to  the  simple,  universal 
principle,  which  is  separable  and  quite  distinct  from 
matter  itself.§  It  must  be  freely  admitted,  then, 
that  first  causes  are  above  demonstration  ;  faith  alone 
enables  us  to  perceive  them  in  the  domain  of  nature 
or  of  grace.  Leaving  behind  the  mere  evidence  of  the 
senses,  and  rising  far  above  all  mere  opinion,  faith 
hastens  into  the  presence  of  absolute  truth,  and  rests 
in  the  light.  ||  Feeling  or  intuition  is  the  introduction 
to  science. H 

*  Upi)\i]\l/iv  elvai  ciai'olac  ti)v  ttiotiv.     ("  Strom.,"  II.  iv.  §  16.) 

f  Ibid.,  II.  iv.  §  15. 

I  *H   tov  dXiiQivou  i3a<n\Uor  l-TUTTi'i/iTi  fiam\iK)}.      (Ibid.,  II.  iv.  §  iS.) 

§  To  airkovv  b  ovre  fjxr  i  A//  trrrli'.      (Ibid.,  II.  iv.  §  14.) 

||  'H  TriVTiQ  ci  ciutCjv  airsQi]Toiv  bctvoaoa  irpbg  ra  dxptvdij  anevdei.  (Ibid.) 

^f  'H  fiiv  ala9r)7i£  i7ri\3iiQpa  rt]Q  t7riaTt)fii)g.      (Ibid.) 


550      THE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

If  these  principles  are  true,  even  in  relation  to  the 
science  of  the  visible,  how  much  more  so  in  relation 
to  the  science  of  the  divine  and  invisible  !  Here  pre- 
eminently feeling  must  play  a  leading  part,  and  faith 
must  be  manifestly  the  first  condition  of  all  knowledge. 
Human  wisdom,  however  lofty  its  range,  cannot  attain 
to  God.  The  mystery  of  His  being  is  profound  and  im- 
penetrable. He  is  represented  by  that  cloud  from  the 
midst  of  which  came  the  thunder  of  His  voice  on 
Sinai.  Thus  was  Moses  led  to  exclaim,  "  I  beseech 
thee  show  me  thy  glory."  But  the  God  who  is  thus 
raised  immeasurably  above  us  by  His  uncreated 
essence,  is  brought  near  to  our  hearts  by  His  love. 
"  His  divine  power  is  ever  ready  to  reveal  itself  to  us 
in  blessing  and  teaching."  He  imparts  Himself  to 
man  simply  through  the  medium  of  faith  ;  this  faith, 
treated  as  folly  by  the  Greeks,  is  the  direct  reception  of 
the  truth,  antecedent  to  any  demonstration  ;  it  is  the 
assurance  of  faith,  "the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."*  It  rests  not  on 
material  proof,  since  it  is  the  communication  to  the 
soul  of  that  which  is  immaterial  and  divine.  "  Thus 
the  spirit,  rising  above  all  worlds,  above  all  the  spheres 
of  creation,  enters  the  lofty  region  where  dwells  the 
Lord  of  all  worlds ;  it  is  no  more  in  danger  of  having 
its  beliefs  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine, 
like  dead  or  fallen  leaves  tossed  by  the  tempest ;  it 
has  arrived  at  the  immutable  by  a  way  which  is  itself 
immutable."  t 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  the  intuition 
of  faith  is  entirely  a  passive  thing,  and  that  man  has 

*  f  Strom.,"  II.  ii.  §5. 

•f-  "Ovru)£  yap  drpkirr^g  Trpbg  to  arpntTOV   r)  7rpo(7aywyf).       (Ibid.,   II. 

xi.  §51.) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.       551 

merely  to    wait  for  divine   illumination  without  usin 


to 


any  effort  of  the  will.  Undoubtedly,  grace  plays  an 
important  part  in  the  regeneration  of  man  ;  God  is  the 
maker  both  of  the  light  we  are  to  perceive  and  of  the 
outward  eye  that  perceives  it.  It  is  He  who,  knowing 
our  inability  to  conceive  of  the  Absolute  Being,  has 
sent  a  Divine  Master  to  reveal  to  us  the  ineffable 
mysteries  of  His  nature.  Our  feebleness  is  such,  that 
even  under  His  direction  we  see  but  imperfectly. 
Thus  we  have  the  greatest  need  of  the  divine  grace, 
which  is,  happily,  infinite  in  its  fulness  and  freeness.* 
Nevertheless,  it  is  unalterably  sure  that  God  requires 
our  concurrence,  our  efforts.  He  grants  eternal  salva- 
tion to  those  who  labour  with  Him  for  the  development 
within  themselves  of  knowledge  and  holiness. t  We 
must  be  like  that  gladiator  who  said  to  Jupiter:  "  If  I 
have  fitly  prepared  myself  for  the  combat,  give  me  the 
victory."  Faith,  that  first  triumph  of  the  Christian, 
is  obtained  only  at  this  price  ;  for  the  pure  in  heart 
shall  alone  see  God. 

Clement  thus  allots  an  important  part  to  the  will  in 
the  attainment  of  certainty  in  religion;  the  share  which 
he  ascribes  to  moral  determination  as  influencing  our 
beliefs,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  his 
apology.  Like  is  only  perceived  by  like  ;  man,  there- 
fore, will  only  arrive  at  the  direct  intuition  of  God, 
when  he  shall  have  truly  drawn  nigh  to  God  and  put 
away  evil.  "  Just  as  when  the  soil  is  barren  the  seed 
sown  is  useless,  so  the  best  teaching  bears  no  fruit 
without  the  consent  of  him  who  receives  it.  The  dry 
straw,  which  is  easily  inflammable,  catches  fire  at  the 

*  'HoQtvfi  irpbq  KaTakrpj/iv  toiv  ovtwv  1)  4/VX'l  •   •  •  •  paX«ma  Xf}yZ°lufV 
xipirog.      ("  Strom./'  V.  i.  §  7.) 

f  Surijpiav  roig  avvfpyovci  irpui;  yi'woiv.     (Ibid.,  VII.  vii.  §  48.) 


552  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

first  spark.  The  magnet  attracts  the  iron  because  of 
their  affinity  for  each  other."*  It  follows  that  religious 
truth  will  only  attract  us  when  it  acts  upon  us  like  a 
sacred  magnet.  We  must  have  ears  to  hear,  and  eyes  to 
see.  "  It  is  with  a  new  eye,  with  a  new  ear,  and  a  new 
heart,  that  the  new  things  revealed  by  Christ  are  seen 
and  heard. "t  The  natural  man  has  no  perception  of 
them  ;  they  are  to  him  like  those  black  ashes,  which,  in 
the  prophetic  image,  are  cast  forth  from  the  dark 
cloud  in  which  God  had  enshrouded  Himself;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  these  very  same  oracles  are  to  the 
believer  full  of  light  and  truth.  J  "  The  way  of  the 
wicked  is  as  darkness,"  saith  the  Scripture,  to  teach' 
that  the  path  of  pride  can  never  lead  to  knowledge. 

Faith,  like  unbelief,  has  a  moral  cause.  The  soul 
sees  only  when  it  desires  to  see,  hears  only  when  it 
wills  to  hear.  At  the  basis  of  belief  is  an  act  of  the  will, 
which  brings  out  the  affinity  between  man  and  God. 
This  act  is  possible,  not  only  because  divine  grace  is 
largely  bestowed  upon  us,  but  also  because,  according 
to  Clement's  doctrine,  a  germ  of  the  Word  is  hidden 
deep  in  every  human  breast.  We  are  in  discord  or  in 
harmony  with  religious  truth,  in  the  measure  in  which 
we  have  cultivated  it  ;  the  greater  or  less  development 
of  the  divine  element  within  us,  depends  on  our  moral 
attitude  towards  it.  The  part  thus  assigned  to  human 
freedom  runs  through  all  the  stages  of  faith.  Faith 
commences  with  an  aspiration  after  the  light,  a  yearning 
after  the  highest  truth.  This  desire  implies  an  initial 
act  of  the  will.      "The   beginning    of   wisdom    is  the 

*  'H  XiBoQ  r]  OpvXov^kvi]  tXieei  top  adr\pov  did.  avyytvtiav.  ("  Strom.," 
II.  vi.  §  26.) 

t  Kcuvtp  ocpOaXfiip.  Kcuvy  aico?j,  kclivij  Kapiliq..       (Ibid.,  II.  iv.  §  15.) 
\  Ibid.,  VI.  xv.  §  116. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      553 

desire  to  seek  after  that  which  is  useful.  A  settled 
determination  is  therefore  of  great  weight  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  truth.*  It  is  in  this  sense  that  voluntary- 
faith  is  the  basis  of  our  salvation. t"  The  will  leads 
the  way,  for  the  rational  faculties  do  but  obey  the  will. 
'What  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  !  Faith  and  obedience 
depend  on  ourselves.^  "  Ask  and  ye  shall  receive. 
In  its  essence,  the  act  of  faith  is  an  act  of  obedience, 
and  it  manifests  itself,  first  of  all,  in  earnest  inquiry. 
The  living  spark  received  into  the  soul  needs  to  be 
fanned  into  a  flame, §  and  that  idle  curiosity  must  be 
avoided  which  would  lead  the  soul  merely  to  walk  up 
and  down  in  the  truth,  as  men  walk  up  and  down  in  a 
town  to  admire  its  buildings.  ||  The  first  thing  which  men 
demand  of  the  sun,  is  not  dazzling  brightness;  the  first 
thing  they  want  is  warmth  and  life.  So  should  it  be 
with  us  and  the  Sun  of  the  soul.  Clement  assigns  a 
moral  cause  to  every  species  of  unbelief.  To  the  pagans 
he  says:  "You  will  not  free  yourselves  from  the  passions 
which  are  the  diseases  of  the  soul,  nor  from  sin,  which 
is  the  soul's  everlasting  death. "1[  Man  can  only  arrive 
at  truth  after  he  has  purified  his  soul  and  placed 
himself  among  the  violent,  who  take  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  by  force,  not  by  philosophic  reasonings,  but  by 
the  repudiation  of  evil  and  by  perseverance  in  the  holy 
war  of  good.**  Thus  is  the  conformity  of  the  soul  to 
God  developed ;  the  soul  attains  to  the  love  which 
is  the  crown  of  Christian  virtue,  and  by  means  of  this 
conformity  it  is  enabled  to  apprehend  Him  who  is  love. ft 

*    MiydXrjv   yovv   eig   yvu><riv  poTn)v   cnrtnin—avTOQ    Trop't\(i   Trpoaiptaig. 
("Strom.,"  II.  ii.  §  9.)  |   Ibid.,  II.  iii.  §  II. 

J  TO  —  iryriviw  r't  kcu  -KtiQiadai  tcf>'  ifjilv.      (Ibid.,  VI  I.  lii.   j    l6.) 

§  Ibid.,  VI.  w ii.  §   149. 

||  "  Qamp  tCjv  ttoXcwv  to  oitcocoi.iiipaTa.      (Ibid..  I.  i.  §  6  ) 

H  "  Protrept,"  XI.    **  "  Strom,"  V.  iii.  §  16.    ff  Ibid.,  V.  iii.  §  7. 

36 


554  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

11  God'  is  love  ;  He  gives  Himself  to  those  who  love  Him. 
The  soul  must  be  joined  to  Him  by  divine  love."* 
Over  the  temple  of  truth,  as  over  the  temple  of  Epi- 
daurus,  might  be  read  an  inscription  in  these  words  : 
"  He  who  would  enter  this  sanctuary  must  be  pure."  All 
the  steps  of  knowledge  are  ascended  in  the  same  manner. 
"  Love,  in  man,  blends  writh  love  in  God,  and  in  this 
love  perfect  unity  is  established  between  him  who 
knows  and  him  who  is  known. "t  Having  reached  this 
point,  we  have  attained  to  the  vision  of  spirit  by  spirit. X 
We  are  bound  by  faith  to  the  truth,  as  by  the  song  of 
a  sacred  syren,  from  which  we  cannot  free  our  soul.§ 
By  faith  we  arrive  at  comprehension  and  systematic 
knowledge.  Christian  theology  grows  out  of  elementary 
/  faith,  as  a  noble  tree  springs  from  the  acorn  sown  in 
the  earth,  for  the  faith  of  the  humble-hearted,  so  far 
from  laying  a  restraint  upon  the  free  exercise  of  thought, 
raises  the  mind  to  the  luminous  heights,  from  whence  this 
world  and  another  are  beheld  as  one  grand  and  august 
whole.  We  shall  see,  when  we  come  to  give  the  views 
of  Clement  on  theology,  properly  so  called,  in  the  expo- 
sition of  his  dogmatic  system,  that  the  lowliness  of  the 
starting-point  in  no  way  hindered  the  free  and  bold 
development  of  his  thoughts.  So  far  from  establishing 
a  marked  opposition  between  reason  and  faith,  he  re- 
gards both  as  different  manifestations  of  one  and  the 
same  intellectual  and  moral  power,  as  is  proved  by  the 
following  passage  :  "  Wisdom  changes  its  name  accord- 
ing to  its  diversified  applications.  ||      When  it  deals  with 

*  Xprj  s^oiKeiov<r6airifiagavT<p  Stay  airt)Q  rrjg  Qdaq.   ("Strom.,"  V.  i.  §  13.) 

f  'EvQtvSt  yes  <!>i\oi>  (piXi'j  to  yiyvuxiKov  T(p  yiyvtoffKO/J-ip^  irapivryaiv. 
(Ibid.,  VII.  x.  ^  57  ) 

i  Toj  vcp  upd  tu  vorjret.     (Ibid.,  V.  iii.  §  16.)         §  Ibid.,  II.  ii.  §  9. 

||  Tlo\vntpr)g  dt  ovaa  1)  (ppovrjait; /xtrafiaWti  Tt)v  irpoar\yopiav.  (Ibid.,  V. 
xvii.  §  155.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.       555 

first  causes  it  is  called  intelligence;  it  becomes  science 
when  it  reinforces  intelligence  by  logic;  and  it  becomes 
faith  when,  concentrated  upon  divine  things,  it  appre- 
hends the  primeval  Word,  without  yet  beholding  Him 
face  to  face,  and  while  still  remaining  under  the 
ordinary  conditions  of  the  human  mind." 

The  demonstration  of  Christianity  on  the  ground  of 
the  fundamental  principle  laid  down  by  Clement,  is 
very  brief,  and  requires  no  great  array  of  logical  argu- 
ment. When  it  is  once  granted  that  religious  truth  is 
perceived  by  faith,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  direct  intuition 
of  the  soul,  of  what  avail  are  lengthened  arguments  ? 
Clement  would  be  untrue  to  his  own  principle,  and 
would  abandon  his  own  method,  were  he  to  make  use 
of  such.  The  course  to  be  pursued  is  not  so  much  to 
give  demonstration  of  the  truth  as  to  set  it  forth,  to  pre- 
sent it  to  the  soul  and  the  conscience,  that  it  may 
appeal  to  the  divine  element  which  is  in  man,  and 
influence  his  will.  Light  will  spring,  as  it  were,  from 
the  contact  of  the  divine  within  and  the  divine  without 
and  above  him  ;  evidence  will  result  from  the  conjunc- 
tion of  the  inner  truth,  which  is  fragmentary  and  partial, 
with  the  whole  truth,  which  the  Gospel  presents  to 
man.  Religious  certainty  is,  in  short,  simply  the 
response  of  the  Word  to  the  Word  ;  the  Word  within, 
beholding  itself  revealed  in  all  its  fulness  and  glory  in 
Jesus  Christ.  The  task  of  the  apologist  will  therefore 
be  accomplished  when  he  has  fully  set  forth  the  per- 
son of  the  Redeemer,  and  established  that  He  was, 
indeed,  the  Desire  of  all  nations,  the  object  of  universal 
aspiration.  If  his  simple  and  telling  statements  make 
it  plain  that  the  soul  of  man,  in  all  its  higher  instincts, 
cries  aloud  for  Him,  and  in  Him  alone  finds  the  satis- 
faction of  its  purest  and  best  desires,  the  demonstration 


55^  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

will  be  complete.  It  will  be  irresistible,  at  least  to  the 
upright  and  honest  heart,  which,  instead  of  loving  the 
darkness  because  its  deeds  are  evil  and  must  needs  be 
hidden  in  obscurity,  comes  to  the  light.  Thus  is  wisdom 
justified  of  her  children,  and  those  alone  arrive  at  truth 
who  are  of  the  truth,  or  rather,  who  have  allowed  grace 
to  quicken  within  them  this  divine  relationship.  We 
admit  this  is  reasoning  in  a  circle,  since  to  those  only 
is  the  proof  conclusive,  who  were  in  a  measure  convinced 
before ;  but  the  whole  of  Christianity  moves  in  such  a 
circle.  We  shall  be  slow  in  reproaching  Clement  with 
treading,  in  this  respect,  in  the  footsteps  of  St.  Paul, 
St.  John,  and  of  Christ  Himself. 

It  follows  from  these  considerations  that  the  great 
task  of  the  apologist  is  to  place  man  face  to  face  with 
truth  ;  his  pleading  will  be  simply  a  powerful  affirma- 
tion, for  the  confirmation  of  which  he  will  appeal  to 
the  universal  and  spontaneous  testimony  of  the  human 
conscience.  The  basis  of  his  apology  being  once  firmly 
laid  down,  Clement  has  but  two  things  to  do.  He  will 
first  declare  the  revelation  of  God,  or  rather  set  before 
his  contemporaries  the  living  person  of  Christ ;  then 
he  will  show,  by  the  history  of  the  ancient  world,  that 
in  Him  is  to  be  found  the  realisation  of  the  religious 
ideal,  vainly  sought  through  so  many  ages. 

Clement  appeals  perpetually  to  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
in  evidence  of  the  divine  truth  which  he  proposes 
for  the  acceptance  of  the  heart.  He  does  not,  indeed, 
cite  the  adversaries  of  Christianity  before  a  tribunal  of 
which  they  do  not  recognise  the  authority  ;  he  does  not 
say  to  the  Greek,  who  has  no  faith  in  the  book  of  God, 
"  Bow  thy  reason  before  these  sacred  pages."  He  does 
not  proclaim  in  an  oracular  tone,  "  It  is  written  !  "  Nor 
does  he  seek  to  compel  implicit  submission  by  insisting 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      557 

on  the  miraculous  character  of  the  Scriptures,  on  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy,  or  on  the  miracles  wrought  by 
the  inspired  writers.  This  would  be  to  carry  the  wit- 
ness of  the  higher  and  invisible  sphere  into  the  lower 
sphere  of  the  visible  ;  it  would  be  to  abandon  moral 
intuitions,  and  to  deprive  conviction  of  its  character  of 
an  act  of  obedience  and  submission  to  God.  Such 
evidences  may  carry  the  mind  along  with  them,  but 
they  have  no  decisive  power  over  it,  so  fertile  is  the 
intellect  in  sophistries,  and  so  skilful  in  evading  the 
force  of  argument.  In  any  case  such  proofs  have  no 
power  over  the  heart  ;  they  may  sometimes  produce  a 
cold  and  dead  conviction  ;  they  will  never  give  assur- 
ance and  certainty.  Men  believe  in  the  Bible  in  the 
same  way  in  which  they  believe  in  God,  whose  word  it 
is  ;  the  divine  element,  which  shines  forth  in  its  sacred 
pages,  must  be  apprehended  by  the  moral  intuition,  not 
by  the  mere  intellect. 

These  are  clearly  the  views  of  Clement  with  refer- 
ence to  Scripture  evidence.  First  principles,  he  repeats 
over  and  over  again,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  reasoning  ; 
they  must  be  perceived  by  direct  intuition,  that  is,  by 
faith.  Now,  the  basis  of  religious  truth  is  the  Word 
speaking  by  His  prophets,  evangelists,  and  holy  apos- 
tles. The  divinity  of  the  Scripture  message  must, 
therefore,  be  placed  among  those  first  principles  which 
are  above  demonstration,  and  which  must  be  arrived  at 
directly ;  the  soul  believes  in  it  by  impulse  and  by 
instinct,  as  it  believes  in  the  Word,  of  whose  thoughts 
the  sacred  books  are  the  expression,  and  whose  gracious 
voice  they  in  a  manner  bring  to  the  ear  of  man.*     In 

*  "E\ofiiv  yup  t\\v  ap\i)v  rijfi  ('uamcaXiag  tov  Kvpiov  Ciu  twv  7rpoq>i]Toiv 
Cut  re  tov  tvayytXiov  <ai  cui  tuv  fiaKapLbiV  tnrooToXuJV.      [u  Strom.,"  VII. 

xvi.  §  95.; 


558  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

other  words,  the  Scriptures  do  not  lead  to  Christ,  but 
Christ  leads  to  the  Scriptures.  It  is  because  He  speaks 
in  them,  and  we  recognise  His  gentle  accents,  that 
they  are  invested  for  us  with  the  highest  authority,  and 
become  our  universal  criterion  of  truth.  He  who  by 
the  inner  sense  has  heard  the  voice  of  God  in  these 
sacred  pages,  believes  in  them  with  a  settled  faith,  which 
nothing  can  overthrow.*  What  is,  then,  the  course  to 
be  pursued  to  convince  men  of  the  divinity  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ?  There  is  but  one  thing  needful — that  their 
eyes  be  opened ;  the  pure'in  heart  will  then  behold  God 
in  His  word.  Clement  does  not  appeal  to  any  of  the 
passages  quoted  from  the  Scriptures  as  to  an  oracle 
conclusive  in  every  dispute  with  the  unbelieving.  He 
is  anxious  rather  to  essay  the  power  of  the  Holy  Book 
over  the  hearts  of  his  adversaries,  and  he  repeats  in  their 
hearing  those  sacred  words,  which,  "  outwardly  simple 
and  unadorned,  are  yet  full  of  an  inner  beauty,  which 
are  incapable  of  flattering,  and  yet  raise  the  man  whose 
moral  being  is  choked  with  sin,  heal  his  wickedness 
with  one  sovereign  word,  and  draw  him  towards  the 
salvation  offered  to  him."  t  The  apologist  quotes  by 
preference  the  Gospel  precepts,  which  set  before  us  so 
lofty  a  moral  ideal,  because  he  is  sure  beforehand  that 
conscience  will  give  its  assent  to  such  words  as  these  : 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself;"  "Who- 
soever looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her,  hath 
committed  adultery  already  with  her  in  his  heart." 
He  thus  sums  up  the  whole  teaching  of  Scripture : 
"  Hear  what  saith  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  the  Holy 
Spirit :  '  My  son,  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the 

*  '0  TTHjTivaaQ  Toivvv  ralg  ypatyaiq  arro^u^iv  avavrlppi)rov  ti)v  tov  tccq 
ypa<pag  dedupiifitvov  <p(ovr)V  Xcififiavu  9tov.       ("  Strom./'  II.  ii.  §  9.) 

f   Mj?  kcU  ry  avrfi  Qiovy  ttoXXci  OepctTrtvovaai.  ("  Protrept.,"  VIII.  yj.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.      559 

Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked  of  him.'  What 
great  love  has  He  not  shown  for  mankind  !  The 
Heavenly  Teacher  speaks  to  you  as  His  disciples;  the 
Master  speaks  to  you  not  as  to  servants,  not  as  a  God 
to  men,  but  as  a  tender  father  addressing  his  children. 
.  .  .  Moses  said,  when  he  .only  heard  the  Word 
spoken  of,  '  I  tremble  exceedingly,  and  quake,'  and  you 
who  hear  the  Word  Himself  speak,  shall  you  not 
tremble  ?  .  .  .  Come,  my  sons,  He  saith,  if  you 
become  not  as  little  children,  if  you  are  not  born  again, 
the  Scripture  tells  you,  ye  cannot  come  back  to  your 
true  Father.*  Faith  will  introduce  you,  experience 
will  be  your  guide,  and  thus  you  will  enter  the  school 
of  Scripture.  Its  teachings  are  for  those  who  have 
already  received  in  simplicity  the  question,  What  man 
is  he  that  desireth  life  ?  "  t 

It  is  faith  in  the  Word,  then,  which  brings  us  into 
submission  under  the  sacred  yoke  of  the  Scriptures. 
It  is  not  the  authority  of  the  Book  which  brings  us  to 
the  feet  of  Christ ;  but  the  Book,  overflowing  with  the 
life  of  the  Word,  imparts  that  life  to  us,  when  by  the 
moral  intuition  we  have  heard  the  voice  of  Go*d  in  His 
inspired  pages,  and  this  initial  act  of  faith  has  been 
confirmed  by  experience.  To  use  a  rude  but  exact 
simile,  all  the  value  of  the  vessel  comes  from  that 
which  it  holds,  and  if  Clement  is  clear  in  his  faith  in 
inspiration,  he  never,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  con- 
founds revelation  itself  with  the  writings  which  contain 
it ;  he  perpetually  carries  us  back  from  the  Book  to  the 
living  person  of  the  Redeemer.  Everything  centres  in 
the  God-Man,  and  Clement,  in  strains  of  truly  noble  lan- 

*  "  Protrept.."  IX.  82. 

+  *H  TTioric  ctcra&c,  r)  iTtlpa  Stcd^ti,  r)  ypapij  iraicayioyijcrei.  (Ibid., 
IX.  88.) 


560  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

guage,  seeks  to  make  us  directly  acquainted  with  Him. 
"  This  eternal  Jesus,"  he  says,  "  this  great  and  sole  High- 
priest  of  the  one  God  who  is  His  Father,  prays  for  all 
men,  and  upon  earth  He  ceases  not  to  exhort  them.  '  O, 
all  ye  nations,,  hearken  unto  me  !'  He  cries.  '  Whoso- 
ever you  are,  endowed  with  reason,  Greeks  or  barbarians, 
hearken.  My  words  are  to  that  whole  race  of  man 
whom  I  created  by  the  will  of  the  Father.  Come  unto 
me,  and  take  upon  you  the  law  of  the  one  God  and  of 
His  word.  Be  not  content  to  be  distinguished  from 
other  creatures  by  reason  alone ;  to  you  only  of  beings 
of  mortal  birth  do  I  give  immortality.  I  wait,  yea,  I 
wait  to  impart  to  you  this  precious  gift ;  of  my  bounte- 
ousness  I  will  bestow  on  you  an  incorruptible  life.  I 
give  unto  you  the  Word,  that  is  to  say,  the  knowledge 
of  God  ;  I  give  myself  to  you.*  I  am  verily  that  Word, 
the  chosen  of  God,  the  steward  of  the  Father,  the 
Eternal  Son,  the  Anointed  One,  the  mind  of  God,  His 
arm,  His  might,  His  will.  You  even  now  reflect  my 
glory,  though  dimly  and  partially.  Now  I  come  to  re- 
form you  in  mine  image,  that  you  may  be  like  unto 
me.  I  will  anoint  you  with  the  precious  ointment  of 
faith,  and  by  its  virtue  you  shall  not  see  corruption.  I 
will  show  you  without  a  veil  the  image  of  righteous- 
ness, that  you  may  rise  to  God.  '  All  ye  that  are 
weary  and  heavy  laden,  come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me  ; 
for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  your  souls.'  "  t  Clement  reproduces  the 
same  thoughts  in  an  inexhaustible  variety  of  forms, 
but  always  clothed  in  brilliant  and  subtle  language, 
full  of  erudite  allusions,  as  is  his  wont.  He  is 
never  weary  of  representing  the  Word  in  His  double 

*  TiXetov  ifxavTbv  xapiZofiat.    ("  Protrept.,"  XII.  I2Q.)  fjbid. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      561 

office  of  Creator  and  Saviour,  depositing  in  man  the 
germ  of  the  whole  higher  life,  and  Himself  coming  to 
quicken  and  fertilise  this  germ,  when  it  was  on  the 
verge  of  losing  all  vitality.  True  to  the  generous  prin- 
ciples of  his  apology,  he  rests  satisfied  with  stating  and 
presenting  these  great  truths  to  the  soul,  well  assured 
that  if  the  soul  is  upright,  and  has  preserved  its  sense 
of  the  divine,  it  will  apprehend  them  by  faith,  and 
appropriate  them  by  a  direct  intuition. 

In  order  to  facilitate  this  appropriation,  however, 
Clement  seeks  to  show  from  history  that  the  revelation 
of  tfie  Word  does  truly  answer  all  the  aspirations  of 
humanity,  as  they  have  manifested  themselves  in  the 
high  culture  of  antiquity.  He  no  longer  seeks  to  esta- 
blish only  the  relationship  of  man  to  God  ;  he  seeks  to 
show  further,  that  Jesus  Christ  has  been  the  Desire  of 
all  nations.  If  he  finds  that  mankind  in  general  has 
sought,  pursued,  demanded,  just  that  which  revelation 
brings  to  him,  this  will  be  an  unanswerable  proof  that 
the  Gospel  is  indeed  the  truth — that  truth  the  pre- 
sentiment or  germ  of  which  exists  originally  in  the 
conscience.  Deeply  convinced  that  God  (to  use  one  of 
Clement's  favourite  expressions)  loves  not  a  mere  frac- 
tion of  humanity,  but  human  nature  in  itself,  Clement 
delights  to  trace  the  progress  of  preparation  for  the 
Gospel  in  the  midst  of  paganism.  He  does  not, 
indeed,  place  Judaism  and  Hellenism  on  a  par.  We 
have  s^pen  him  in  his  polemics  against  the  philosophers, 
bringing  down  the  pride  of  Greece  in  comparing  her 
with  nations  whom  she  accounted  barbarous  ;  we  have 
seen  how  he  even  accuses  her  of  plagiarism,  and  of 
borrowing  from  foreign  sources  the  best  fruits  of  her 
civilisation.  On  the  other  hand,  he  recognises  a  spon- 
taneous development  of  the  conscience  among   pagan 


562  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

nations,  while  still  maintaining  the  superiority  of  the 
people,  who,  in  lieu  of  philosophers,  had  prophets,  and 
to  whom  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God.  Clement 
had  not  the  occasion  of  holding  discussions  with  the 
Jews  ;  with  them,  therefore,  he  concerns  himself  very 
little.  He  is  the  apologist  of  the  Gentiles,  the  apostle 
of  cultivated  Greece,  and  he  pleads  the  cause  of  Christ 
before  an  ideal  Areopagus,  on  which  are  seated  as 
judges  all  the  great  philosophers  of  antiquity.  He 
speaks  their  language,  he  meets  them  on  their  own 
ground  of  religious  and  moral  development,  that  he 
may  lead  them  into  the  whole  truth.  Thus  he  is  nAich 
more  engaged  with  the  preparation  for  the  Gospel  in 
paganism  than  in  Hebrew  prophecy,  for  which,  never- 
theless, he  always  manifests  the  deepest  respect.  He 
has  represented,  by  a  beautiful  image,  the  idea  of  the 
preparatory  mission  of  the  Greek  philosophy,  and  at 
the  same  time,  of  its  inferiority  to  the  Hebraic  revela- 
tion. He  says  :  "  As  the  holy  oil  flowed  from  the  beard 
of  Aaron  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments,  so  the 
divine  unction  of  the  truth  which  the  Word — our 
eternal  High-priest — poured,  first  of  all,  upon  the 
head  of  the  chosen  people,  flows  even  down  to  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks.  That  philosophy  was 
doubtless  a  far  fainter  expression  of  the  Word  than 
was  prophecy,  but  by  all  its  elements  of  truth  it 
belongs  to  that  Word.  How  can  we  doubt  that  it  is 
fulfilling  His  designs,-'-  since  it  contributes  to  the  pre- 
paration for  His  kingdom  ;  under  this  condition,  how- 
ever, that  it  shall  not  be  too  proud  to  receive  from  a 
barbarous  people  that  wisdom  which  is  to  guide  it  into 
all  truth."  The  philosophic  faculty,  like  all  the  facul- 
ties of  the  human  mind,  is  a  gift  of  God  bestowed  by  a 

*  ^i\oao<pia  ck  ttCjq  ovk  tv  Xoyy ;   ("  Strom.,"  VI.  xvii.  §  153.) 


BOOK   III. — THE  .DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      563 

special  operation  of  His  providence.*  He  who  made 
the  prophets  made  the  philosophers  also  ;  His  merciful 
wisdom  manifests  itself  in  ways  infinitely  various,  but 
which  all  tend  to  the  salvation  of  man.t  All  that  the 
arts  contain  of  good  proceeds  from  God4  How,  then, 
should  this  art  of  philosophy,  which  is  the  noblest  of 
all,  since  it  directly  serves  the  cause  of  truth,  have 
another  origin  ?  God  has  not  only  bestowed  the  philo- 
sophic faculty,  but  He  has  also  watched  over  its  exer- 
cise^ He  has  taken  care  that  the  philosophers  should 
make  good  use  of  it,  and  thus  contribute  to  the  welfare 
and  salvation  of  mankind.  His  watchful  providence  is 
specially  over  those  elect  spirits  who,  by  their  high 
endowments,  will  exert  the  greatest  influence  over  their 
kind.  These  are  the  leaders  of  the  people,  the  formers 
of  mind,  whose  vocation  it  is  to  make  manifest  the 
beneficent  operation  of  God  in  the  government  or  in 
the  instruction  of  the  world.  Let  it  not  be  said  that 
philosophy  is  a  cfemoniacal  invention.  ||  Evil  cannot 
bring  forth  good ;  darkness  cannot  produce  light  ;  phi- 
losophy which  has  been  a  fountain  of  good  cannot  be  of 
the  Evil  One,  but  is  of  God. IT  If  we  except  the  sophists, 
who  have  profaned  the  name  of  philosophy,  it  will  be 
admitted  that  its  representatives  have  been  the  mcst 

*  "E^OL'tTt  ti  oiKtlov  <p{'<Jttoc  Iciuipa  ol  acxpoi  ry  Ciavoiq,  \a^ij3avovai  ck 
irvtvpa  al<j9>i<Tio>g  napd  ti'iq  KVplutrdrrjQ,  ootyiag.  \fl  Strom.,"  I.  iv. 
§26.) 

f  T)}v  acxpiav  tov  6soi>  7ro\vfi(pwg  i:al  Tro\vTpo7ro)£  .  .  .  Cut  i7rt(TT)jpi]c, 
Cid  7rpo<pijTtiag,  ti)v  iavrfjQ  ivcuKvvp'tvi]v  cvvafiii>  itg  Trjv  i)ptTipav  avtpyt- 
aiav.      (I bid.,  I.  iv.  ^  27.) 

X^^ivTeyycuQiiyaBa,  BioBev  i\et  rqv ap\i'}v.      (Ibid.,  VI.  xvii.  §  160.) 

§  Ibid.,  VI.  xvii.  §157. 

ji  MrtWra  tovtoiq  aivtari  Trpocrtx^Tipa  1)  ImoKOirT],  oaoi  cvvaroi  rd 
TrXijOr]  avvu><pi\t~ii>  vTrcipxovoiv  ovtoi  0  tioiv  01  ip/tpoPtKoi  /cat  ircuCtvTiKoi. 
(Ibid.,  VI.  xvii.  §  158.) 

H  Ov  roivvv  Kcwiag  tpyov  t)  -pikoaocpia.  ivaptTOvg  Troiovcra.  (Ibid., 
VI.  xvii.  §  159.) 


y 


564  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

virtuous  men  of  Greece  and  Rome.*  Let  us  not  then 
suffer  it  to  be  likened  to  the  strange  woman  in  the  Pro- 
verbs, who  lays  snares  for  the  feet  of  the  young,  and  whose 
dwelling  leads  down  to  death.  No  ;  philosophy  is  no  har- 
lot ;  t  it  is  with  her  as  with  Tamar,  who,  though  she  was 
arrayed  like  a  vile  woman,  and  might  be  mistaken  for 
such,  nevertheless  truly  belonged  to  the  house  of  Israel.^ 
This  great  apology,  then,  starting  from  the  essential 
affinity  between  man  and  God,  goes  on  to  show  how,  in 
Christianity,  we  have  the  complete  restoration  of  the 
normal  relation  between  the  creature  and  the  Creator. 
It  finds  in  the  divine  element,  which,  partial  and 
obscured,  survives  the  fall  in  man,  the  fulcrum  with 
which  to  raise  us  to  that  fulness  of  the  Deity  to  which 
we  are  destined,  and  which  the  Word  has  come  to 
impart.  Inexorable  in  its  declaration  of  the  corruption 
of  fallen  man,  but  as  tender  as  inexorable,  it  never 
takes  pleasure  in  degrading  human  nature,  and  finds 
no  cause  of  triumph  in  its  deep  abasement.  It  needs 
and  cherishes  the  feeble  spark  in  the  smoking  flax,  and 
respects  in  the  bruised  reed  a  divine  plant  which  may 
be  raised,  which  must  not  be  broken.  We  are  not 
blind  to  the  blemishes  in  Clement's  apology.  We  note 
his  inconsistencies,  we  blame  his  excessive  idealism, 
and  among  minor  faults  we  observe  the  singular  turn 
of  his  phraseology,  that  combination  of  too  great  bril- 
liance in  the  form  with  obscurity  in  the  thought,  which 
makes  his  treatises  difficult  to  read.  Of  him  we  may 
say,  what  is  true  of  philosophy  in  general :  to  taste  the 
sweet  kernel,  it  is  needful  to  break  the  shell.  Our 
readers  can  form  very  little  idea  of  the  confusion  to  be 

*  'H    \pt]<Jtg  Trig  (piXocrotylac,  cine  tnriv   av   kokwV,    d\\'  y  to7q  dpioTuig 
riov  'EWiJvidv  decorai.      ("Strom.,"  VI.  xvii.  §  159) 

i  ibid.,  i.  v.  §29.  t  ibid.,  1.  vi.  §31. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      565 

met  with  in  his  writings,  because  we  have  only  quoted 
some  of  his  finest  passages,  without  following  him 
through  the  many  involutions  of  his  style.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  all  these  grave  defects,  Clement  is  the  true 
founder  of  the  great  apology,  that  which  is  sure  and  safe 
in  its  conclusions,  because  it  gives  truth  a  basis  wide 
enough  to  build  upon,  and  supplies  the  fulcrum  for 
the  lever.  That  which  was  only  a  passing  flash  of 
genius  in  Justin,  becomes,  under  the  hands  of  Clement, 
the  organising  principle  of  a  great  system.  Certainty 
in  religion  is  made  to  rest  upon  the  normal  conditions' 
of  all  certainty ;  it  is  based  upon  a  real  relation  be- 
tween man  and  truth  ;  this  relation  is  determined  by  the 
very  value  of  the  object  of  faith.  Now,  as  this  object 
is  God,  the  Cause  of  causes,  it  is  legitimate  that  it 
should  be  apprehended,  like  every  first  cause,  by  moral 
intuition.  It  is  rational  that  reason  should  recognise 
its  own  limits,  and  leave  to  the  intuitive  faculties  and 
moral  determinations,  the  perception  of  sniper-sensible 
and  divine  truths.  By  doing  this  it  loses  nothing, 
for  within  its  own  sphere  it  has  a  very  important 
mission  ;  it  is  the  lawgiver  of  the  world  of  thought. 
Starting  from  these  premises,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
by  an  erudite  and  able  course  of  argument,  refutes  all 
that  has  opposed  itself  to  Christianity  in  the  past,  and 
discerns  all  that  in  the  old  world  was  in  harmony  with 
the  new.  Thus  he  establishes  the  truth  of  the  new 
religion  by  its  conformity  with  the  divine  element  in 
human  nature.  His  great  original  ideas  are  sustained 
by  a  mass  of  learning ;  they  glow  always  with  the  fire 
of  love  to  God  and  man,  and  are  illuminated  by  the 
sometimes  excessive  play  of  a  brilliant  imagination. 
The  current  of  ideas  which  Clement  set  in  motion  was 
too  pure,  too  spiritual  for  his  age  ;  and  after  the  time 


566  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  his  illustrious  successor,  the  stream  was  to  lose  itself 
among  the  waste  sands  of  external  authority,  and  never 
to  be  seen  again  in  its  pristine  transparency  till  the 
days  of  Pascal.  But  before  thus  disappearing  for  a 
time,  it  was,  under  the  guidance  of  Origen,  to  flow  on- 
wards in  a  fuller  stream  and  in  a  more  steady  and 
defined  course.  In  his  teaching,  instead  of  an  exposi- 
tion broken  by  constant  digressions,  we  have  a  chain  of 
close  and  continuous  argument  ;  instead  of  the  thousand 
intertwining,  crossing  threads  of  a  variegated  fabric,  we 
'have  one  clear  and  telling  line  of  thought.  It  is  only 
just  to  Clement  to  admit,  before  we  part  from  him,  that 
he  had  not  the  advantage  of  being  engaged  in  conflict 
with  a  skilful  opponent,  and  that  he  was  not  perpe- 
tually recalled  to  his  subject  by  a  keen  and  watchful 
adversary.  Nor  must  we  forget  that  it  is  more  easy  to 
perfect  a  method  than  to  invent  it,  to  draw  conclusions 
than  to  lay  down  principles.  Men  grope  with  doubtful 
steps  along  ft  dark  and  untried  way,  but  a  special  glory 
ever  belongs  to  the  pioneer,  and  this  glory,  beyond 
question,  is  Clement's. 

(c.)  The  Apologies  of  Origen,  of  Hippolytus,  and  of 
Minntins  Felix  briefly  epitomised. 

Origen  accepts  the  great  principles  of  the  Apology  of 
Clement ;  he  regards  them  as  already  demonstrated,  and 
contents  himself  with  simply  affirming  them.  Thus  he 
establishes  with  equal  clearness  the  essential  relation 
between  man  and  God,  the  universal  operation  of  grace 
upon  the  race  of  Adam,  the  preparation  made  for  the 
Gospel  in  paganism  itself,  and  the  determining  power 
of  the  will  in  the  formation  of  religious  beliefs.  In  an  ad- 
mirable passage  he  says  :  "  The  Divine  Word  slumbers 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.       567 

in  the  hearts  of  the  unbelievers,  while  it  is  awake  in  the 
saints.  It  slumbers,  but  is  not  the  less  really  present, 
as  Jesus  Christ  was  in  the  ship  with  His  disciples, 
when  they  were  tossing  in  terror  on  the  stormy  sea. 
It  will  awake  so  soon  as  the  soul,  become  anxious  for 
salvation,  shall  call,  and  then  immediately  there  will  be 
a  great  calm.*  In  other  words,  the  Son  of  God  is  not  a 
stranger  to  man  ;  all  of  the  divine  that  remains  in  our 
soul  testifies  to  His  presence  within  us ;  but  the  Word 
within  slumbers  until  it  is  aroused  by  an  earnest  desire 
after  salvation  and  by  an  act  of  the  will."  We  shall 
constantly  find  these  grand  ideas  at  the  basis  of  the 
demonstration  which  Origen  gives  of  Christianity;  they 
have  not,  in  his  treatment,  the  same  freshness  as  in  the 
writings  of  his  predecessors,  but  he  has  turned  them  to 
so  good  account,  and  presented  them  with  so  much 
amplitude,  that  although  he  did  not  originate  the 
method  he  employs,  he  deserves  to  be  entitled  the 
foremost  of  the  apologists  of  the  Alexandrine  school. 
He  shed  light  upon  more  than  one  obscure  point,  and 
treated  in  a  masterly  manner  the  relation  of  external 
and  internal  evidence.  We  shall  find  him  always  taking 
his  stand  on  moral  grounds  in  the  conflict  with  the 
foes  of  Christianity  ;  there  he  resolutely  remained,  and 
his  peculiar  tactics  consisted  in  compelling  his  adver- 
saries to  meet  him  on  this  arena. 

Restrictions  of  space  oblige  us  to  pass  over  the  very 
full  and  interesting  reply  made  by  Origen  to  the  objec- 
tions urged  by  Celsus  from  the  Judaistic  standpoint. 
He  would  not  be  entangled  in  the  network  of  rabbinical 

*  "Adhuc  in  infidelibus  dormitat  scnno  divinus ;  vigilat  in 
Sanctis.  Dormitat  in  his  qui  tempcstatibus  fluctuant,  suscitatur 
vero  eorum  vocibus  qui  cupiunt  vigilante  sponso  salvari."  (Origen 
"In  Cantic,"  Homily  II.  9.) 


568  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

quibbles.  "Would  to  God,"  he  exclaims,  "that  these 
calumniators  of  the  Word,  who  are  ignorant  of  the 
most  essential  truths,  were  also  ignorant  of  the  very 
letter  of  the  Scriptures,  that  they  might  not  be  able  to 
render  their  attacks  so  plausible,  and  to  shake,  I  say 
not  the  faith,  but  the  little  faith  of  feeble  believers!" 
Origen  hastens  to  lead  his  adversaries  into  the  moral 
sphere,  that  there  he  may  vindicate  even  in  their  view 
the  reproach  of  the  cross.  Regarded  from  this  stand- 
point, the  crucifixion  of  Christ  appears  as  a  free  sacri- 
fice, no  longer  as  a  death  of  shame.  If  there  is  found 
some  opponent  of  soul  so  base,  as  still  to  see  a  brand 
of  dishonour  in  this  voluntary  offering  of  the  infinite 
charity  of  a  God,  Origen  appeals  from  such  objection 
not  to  texts  of  Scripture,  but  to  the  living  book  of  the 
soul,  to  its  noble  instincts,  to  that  spontaneous  recog- 
nition which  conscience  gives  to  every  act  of  self 
devotion.  When  the  spotless  victim  of  Calvary  shall 
be  blamed  by  the  common  consent  of  mankind,  in  that 
same  day  men  will  cease  to  admire  Socrates,  who 
would  drink  death  rather  than  save  himself  by  a  lie,  or 
Leonidas  marching  joyfully  to  a  certain  and  premature 
grave  for  the  salvation  of  his  country.* 

The  apologist  is  equally  happy  whether  adopting  the 
calm  tone  of  philosophical  discussion,  or  speaking  in 
the  more  vehement  accents  of  righteous  indignation. 
He  feels  that  the  light  which  is  to  carry  conviction 
to  the  incredulous  Jew  must  flash  fire,  for  till  Pharisaic 
pride  has  been  humbled  in  the  dust,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus 
on  the  way  to  Damascus,  it  will  effectually  bar  the 
access  to  truth.  Origen,  therefore,  rebuked  the  pride 
of  Judaism  in  his  most  powerful  accents.  Following 
the  example  of  Stephen  in  his  address  to  the  Sanhe- 
*  "Contra  Celsum,"  II.  17. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.       569 

drim,  he  connected  the  present  unbelief  of  the  Jews 
with  their  unbelief  in  the  past.  They  are  ever  the 
same  stiff-necked  people,  hardened  in  rebellion.  They 
smile  contemptuously  now  when  we  speak  to  them  of 
the  God  who  came  to  dwell  among  them  ;  but  was  not 
this  same  God  present  in  olden  time  in  the  midst  of 
the  Hebrews,  when  He  led  them,  with  a  stretched-out 
arm  and  with  many  signs  and  wonders,  out  of  Egypt, 
when  He  smote  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  that  they 
might  pass  over  on  dry  land,  when  He  walked  with 
them  in  the  cloudy  pillar,  and  most  of  all  when  He 
proclaimed  His  law  from  Sinai?  and  yet  those  who 
thus  in  a  manner  beheld  Him  with  open  vision,  be- 
lieved not  in  Him,*  else  they  would  not  have  fashioned 
a  senseless  idol  at  the  very  foot  of  the  sacred  mount. 
"And  the  race  is  ever  the  same;  what  signs  and 
miracles  did  not  God  show  them  in  the  wilderness,  but 
they  continued  still  in  unbelief.  And  now,  neither  the 
marvellous  appearing  of  Christ,  nor  His  words  of 
authority,  nor  His  miracles  wrought  before  all  the 
people,  could  persuade  them  to  believe  in  Him.t  Their 
present  unbelief  is  in  strict  accordance  with  all  that 
their  own  books  tell  of  their  want  of  faith  in  the  past. 
Which  miracles,  think  you,  are  the  greater,  those 
wrought  in  Egypt  and  in  the  desert,  or  those  of  Christ  ? 
If  you  give  the  preference  to  the  former,  must  it  not  be 
easy  to  comprehend  that  the  people  who  resisted  the 
greater  miracles  should  also  resist  the  less  ?  If  you 
place  both  on  the  same  level,  is  it  astonishing  if  the 
same  people  should  show  themselves  equally  incredu- 
lous in  view  of  the  miracles,  which  are  at  the  basis  of 
both    covenants?    ....    In    rejecting   Jesus    Christ, 

*  'B7ri(TTt']9i]  vttu  tiZ'V  ticuTwv.  ("  Contra  Celsum,"  II.  74.) 
f  Ibid. 

37 


570  THE    EARLY    YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

you  bear  witness  against  yourselves  that  you  are  the 
worthy  sons  of  those  who  in  the  wilderness  withstood 
the  clearest  manifestations  of  the  divine  power."*  The 
unbelief  of  the  Jews  is  far  more  culpable  than  that  of 
the  pagans.  We  may  not  marvel,  then,  if  their  punish- 
ment has  been  heavier  than  that  of  the  proconsul,  who, 
at  their  instigation,  condemned  Christ.  Pilate  would 
have  deserved  to  be  torn  limb  from  limb,  like  Pentheus, 
say  our  adversaries,  if  Christ  had  been  really  God. 
But  the  true  Pentheus  is  not  the  Roman  judge,  but  the 
nation  which  slew  its  God,  and  whose  living  members 
have  been,  as  the  due  meed  of  this  crime,  scattered  in 
fragments  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth,  thus  en- 
during a  punishment  more  terrible  and  more  lasting  than 
that  which,  according  to  the  fable,  was  visited  on  the 
enemy  of  Bacchus. t  The  unbelief  of  the  Jews  has 
drawn  down  upon  them  the  most  fearful  calamities. 
The  time  of  their  chastisement  has  not  tarried,  it  has 
already  come.  What  nation  has  been  thus  driven  from 
its  capital  and  from  the  country  where  it  held  its 
national  worship  ?  The  cause  of  this  unparalleled 
catastrophe  is  their  crime  against  Christ.J  But  their 
condemnation  has  been  the  occasion  of  a  large  blessing  ; 
it  has  cast  down  the  barrier  between  the  truth  and 
mankind,  and  the  good  news  of  salvation  is  spreading 
over  the  earth  like  long  pent-up  waters,  which  have  at 
length  found  a  free  outlet. §  It  is  for  this  purpose  the 
whole  wrorld  has  been  brought  together  under  the  laws 
of  the  Roman  emperor,  for  a  multiplicity  of  kingdoms 

*  MaprvpHTE  di  5>v  Tip  'Irjaov  airicrruTe,  on  v\oi  ian  tCjv  iv  ry  Ipijuy 
a7r-<jTri<Tavrojv  toaq  Qtiaig  im<pavuaiQ.      ("Contra  Celsum,"  II.  75*) 
+  'YTrtp  tov  Ylevdkwq  <T7rapayfi6v  haairapkv.     (Ibid.,  II.  34) 
X  Ibid.,  II.  8. 
§   SvvexptjaaTO  ry  airiGTiq.  twv  'lovdaiuv  Ttpoq  njv  kXtjolv  tCjv   tOvu/V. 

(Ibid.,  II.78.) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.      571 

would  have  hindered  the  diffusion  of  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  throughout  the  entire  universe.* 

Origen,  after  thus  verifying  the  obduracy  of  the  syna- 
gogue, turns  to  the  pagans,  saying,  in  the  noble  words 
of  St.  Paul :  "  God  hath  opened  to  us  the  door  of  the 
Gentiles."  In  this  more  closely  philosophical  argu- 
ment he  uses  the  same  kind  of  reasoning  which  had 
proved  so  victorious  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  ;  but  while 
thus  analogous  in  substance,  we  shall  find  it  admirably 
adapted  in  form  to  the  new  adversaries  he  is  desirous 
to  vanquish  and  convince. 

Origen  commences  by  establishing  the  historic 
claims  of  the  Old  Testament  in  opposition  to  the  mock- 
ing impeachments  of  Celsus.  Then  he  refutes  the 
objections  which  were  aimed  rather  at  the  person  of 
the  Christians  than  at  their  doctrine.  He  shows  that 
they  are  neither  impertinent  innovators  nor  rebels. 
He  dwells  upon  their  heroic  courage  under  persecution. 
How  can  those  men  be  accused  of  cowardice,  who  fear 
nothing  but  the  judgment  of  God  ?  It  is  asserted  and 
maintained  that  they  are  the  scum  of  the  earth.  Away 
with  such  delusions!  These  unhappy  men,  whom  their 
fellows  regard  as  the  rejected  of  heaven,  are  in  very 
truth  the  hidden  prop  of  the  world,  which  owes  its 
preservation  to  their  prayers;  they  are  the  ten  righteous 
in  Sodom.  They  are  the  preserving  salt  of  the  earth, t 
and  the  earth  will  stand  only  so  long  as  this  salt 
retains  its  savour.  Christians  are  subject  to  persecu- 
tions only  in  the  measure  which  God  is  pleased  to 
permit.  When  He  sees  fit  to  stay  the  fire  and  sword, 
the  disciples  of  Christ  may  go  forward,  safe  and  sound, 
amidst  the  raging  malice  and  hatred  of  a  world,  well 
sustained  by  Him  who  said:  "  Be  of  good  cheer;  I 
*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  II.  30.  t  Ibid.,  VIII.  70. 


572  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

have  overcome  the  world."  He  has,  in  truth,  over- 
come it,  and  the  world  has  no  more  power  than  that 
which  its  victors  may  be  pleased  yet  for  a  time  to  grant 
to  it.  Our  confidence  is  in  that  victory.*  If  God 
sends  us  forth  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  faith,  we  will 
march  boldly  to  meet  our  enemies,  crying:  "  I  can  do 
all  things  through  Christ  which  strengthened  me." 
"  The  very  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered."  Be- 
side, affliction  is  in  reality  a  blessing  to  the  Christian  ; 
it  proves  his  faith  and  ripens  him  for  heaven.  If  the 
Church  is  reproached  with  the  obscurity  and  low  estate 
of  most  of  its  members,  the  apologist  replies,  with  the 
eloquence  of  love,  that  the  highest  glory  of  the  new 
religion  is,  that  it  has  been  mindful  of  those  who  had 
no  earthly  heritage.  It  is  not  that  the  Church  rejects 
the  wise  and  well-informed,  and  favours  ignorance  ;  on 
the  contrary,  she  fully  recognises  that  knowledge  is  a 
valuable  preliminary  leading  on  to  truth, t  but  she  seeks 
to  diffuse  her  benefits  equally  among  all  the  children  of 
men.  "We  openly  avow  that  we  desire  to  instruct  every 
human  being  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  We  desire  to 
offer  to  the  young  woman  the  exhortation  befitting  her 
age  and  condition ;  we  desire  to  teach  the  slave  how,  if 
he  becomes  free  in  spirit,  he  will  be  the  free  man  of  our 
religion.  We  hold  ourselves  debtors  to  the  learned  and 
to  the  unlearned.  We  thus  act  that  we  may  bring 
healing  to  every  soul  endowed  with  reason,  and  restore 
it  to  the  fellowship  of  God.  J  We  refuse  no  one,  not 
the  most  untutored  man,  or  vile  slave,  or  ignorant 
woman  or  child  ;  we  accept  all  that  we  may  better  all.§ 

*  Qappovjxtv  T>j  Ikhvov  v'ucy.     ("  Contra  Celsum,"  VIII.  70.) 

*f*  To  (ppSvi/Aov  dvai  tccikov  icrnv.     (Ibid.,  III.  50-) 

X  Ibid.,  III.  54 

§  Tovrovg  KaXtl  6  \6yog,'lva  aurovQ  (3i\riu)<jy.      (Ibid.,  III.  49) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        573 

The  brigand  is  not  shut  out:  if  we  bid  him  to  our 
company  it  is  not  as  robbers  welcoming  another  to 
their  bind,  it  is  that  we  may  bind  up  the  wounds  of  his 
spirit  with  the  truth,  and  pour  into  them  the  healing 
balm  of  the  Word,  which  is  more  effectual  than  wine 
and  oil."  *  After  all,  the  end  of  all  proselytism  worthy 
of  the  name  is  to  impart  true  knowledge  to  the  igno- 
rant :  this  has  been  ever  the  vocation  of  philosophy. 
What  occasion,  then,  is  there  to  blame  the  Christian, 
who,  like  a  good  physician,  seeks  out  the  sick  that 
he  may  heal  them,  and  the  weak  and  weary  that  he 
may  renew  their  strength ?t  Further,  though  it -is 
true  that  great  sinners  are  not  excluded  from  the 
Church,  but  on  the  contrary  are  bidden  to  come  in, 
they  are  yet  in  the  minority,  for  the  new  religion 
gathers  its  most  numerous  adherents  among  men  of 
noble  hearts,  who  love  goodness  and  truth. J  Never- 
theless, it  turns  with  tender  compassion  towards  all 
who  need  its  help,  be  they  who  they  may.  "I  admit, 
then,  that  I  seek  out  even  the  lowest  of  mankind  to 
render  them  as  much  better  as  I  can  ;  but  it  is  false 
that  these  outcasts  alone  constitute  the  Christian 
Church.  My  preference  is  naturally  for  those  quick 
and  intelligent  spirits  which  can  grasp  the  hidden 
meaning  of  the  law,  the  prophets,  and  the  Gospels."  § 
In  other  words,  Christianity  carries  light  to  every  grade 
of  intelligence,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest. 

Pagan  philosophy,  after  vituperating  against  the 
proselytism  of  the  Church,  directed  its  attacks  against 
the  first  missionaries  of  the  new  religion.  These  it 
compared  to  designing  persons  of  a  low  class,  luring 

*  "Contra  Celsum,"  III.  61. 

f  'ilc  <pi\dv9piorrog  larpog.     (Ibid.,  I II.  74.) 

I  Ibid.,  III.  65.  §  Ibid.,  III.  56. 


574  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

away  young  people  from  the  instruction  of  a  venerable 
father  and  of  illustrious  masters,  to  use  them  for  their 
own  purposes.  "  These  designing  persons,"  Origen 
replies,  "  are  men  who  seek  by  every  means  to  raise 
our  souls  towards  the  Author  of  all  things,  who  teach 
us  to  tread  under  foot  all  that  is  visible  and  transitory, 
and  to  enter  into  fellowship  with  God.  That  which 
we  teach  these  young  people,  whom  we  are  charged 
with  leading  astray,  is  at  least  as  valuable  as  anything 
they  could  have  learned  from  those  venerable  fathers 
and  illustrious  masters,  of  whom  so  loud  a  boast  is 
made.  We  snatch  young  girls  from  a  life  of  immodesty, 
from  the  obscene  dances  in  the  theatres,  from  debasing 
superstition  ;  we  give  the  young  man  that  which  will  act 
as  a  check  upon  youthful  lusts,  revealing  to  him  not 
only  the  infamy  of  such  pleasures,  but  also  the  perils  to 
which  they  expose  him,  and  the  chastisements  they 
will  bring  down  upon  his  head."  What  were  those 
beautiful  and  noble  lessons  which  youth  had  learned 
from  the  masters,  the  loss  of  whose  teaching  is  so  much 
lamented  ?  The  young  people  had  learned  to  frequent 
theatres  and  haunts  of  vice.  They  were  hardened  in  all 
wickedness.  Such  teaching  was  surely  not  a  treasure 
to  be  so  sedulously  guarded.  Truly  philosophical  teach- 
ing, Christians  are  the  last  to  repudiate  :  on  the  con- 
trary, they  call  it  to  their  aid.  "  We  do  not  turn 
away  the  young  from  the  study  of  philosophy  ;*  rather, 
when  we  find  their  minds  exercised  by  the  pursuit  of 
the  preparatory  sciences,  we  endeavour  to  raise  them 
to  the  sublime  heights  of  the  Gospel,  which  are  to  the 
many  inaccessible.  We  invite  them  to  receive  from 
Christians  the  philosophy  taught  by  Christ,  His  pro- 
phets and  apostles."     Let  men  beware  of  magnifying 

*  Ouk  airorptyu)  cnrb  tovtcjv  tovq  v'tovQ.    ("  Contra  Celsum,"  III.  58.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        575 

the  greatness  of  the  masters  who  preceded  the  Divine 
Teacher,  and  of  representing  them  to  us  as  skilful  phy- 
sicians followed  by  an  ignorant  empiric.  In  fact,  if  we 
no  longer  contemplate  philosophy  in  a  general  manner, 
as  a  science  which  imparts  positive  knowledge  and  exer- 
cises the  mind  advantageously  in  habits  of  meditation  ; 
if  we  take  it  now  as  embodied  in  its  principal  systems, 
we  must  acknowledge  that  it  has  furnished  mankind 
with  but  poor  physicians,  and  that  there  is  pressing  need 
to  remove  from  their  treatment  the  sick,  who  are  nothing 
bettered,  but  rather  grow  worse.  Is  it  not  a  service 
rendered  to  a  man,  to  alienate  him  from  the  philosophy 
of  Epicurus,  which  denies  the  gods,  or  from  the  Peripa- 
tetic philosophy,  which  breaks  every  link  between  the 
creature  and  the  Creator,  and  brands  faith  in  Provi- 
dence as  arrant  superstition  ?  Is  it  not  a  true  service, 
to  lead  him  to  withdraw  his  adherence  from  that  proud 
Stoicism,  which  has  failed  to  invent  anything  better 
than  a  material  God,  and  from  the  idle  dreams  of 
metempsychosis,  taught  by  the  disciples  of  Pythagoras  ? 
In  acting  thus,  we  do  not  remove  the  sick  man  from 
his  true  physicians  ;  on  the  contrary,  we  heal  him  of 
the  wounds  which  a  false  philosophy  has  inflicted  on 
his  spirit.*  Silence,  then,  to  all  the  slanders  brought 
against  the  defenders  of  Christianity!  It  is  idle  to 
compare  Christians  to  drunken  men  who  would  entice 
others  into  their  own  sin,  or  to  blind  men  who  would 
have  all  others  as  blind  as  themselves.  The  intoxi- 
cated man  is  not  the  Christian,  but  the  worshipper  of 
matter,  drunk  with  lust  in  the  temples  of  his  gods;  the 
blind  man  is  he  who,  in  presence  of  the  great  and 
beautiful  works  of  creation,  fails  to  recognise,  to  admire 

*   MfydXiov  rpavfiaTwv,  tCjv  ano  \6ywv  vOfiiZopsvuv   j>i\ooo(po,v  &-a\- 
Xaoooptv  rovg  TreiBofxivovQ  t)/.up.     ("  Contra  Cclsum,"  III.  75.) 


576  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  adore  their  Author.*  The  fatal  weakness  of  the 
philosophers  consists  in  this — that  they  set  themselves 
forth  as  the  objects  of  faith ;  they  are  feeble  and 
ignorant  as  we,  and  vet  each  of  them  ventures  to  say: 
Believe  in  me.t  For  ourselves,  we  say :  Believe  in 
the  supreme  God,  the  perfect  master  revealed  in  Jesus 
Christ.  None  of  us  is  so  mad  as  to  say  to  those 
whom  we  teach:  I  myself  will  save  you.  Thus,  be- 
tween Christianity  and  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients, 
there  is  all  the  difference  between  a  philosophy  and 
a  religion. 

After  these  general  reflections,  Origen  enters  on  the 
positive  apology.  As  far  as  regards  the  method  of 
Christian  teaching,  he  only  reproduces  the  noble  argu- 
ment of  Clement  in  an  enriched  and  perfected  form. 
The  point  to  be  established  is,  that  Christianity,  in 
claiming  of  us  faith,  does  no  violence  to  the  laws  of 
rational  certainty,  as  it  is  accused  of  doing;  and  that 
from  the  standpoint  of  true  reason,  its  so-called  folly 
is  more  reasonable  than  the  wisdom  of  the  world. 
Origen  points  out  first  of  all,  that  a  certain  act  of  faith 
and  trust  precedes  necessarily  every  great  human  enter- 
prise of  whatever  nature.  Without  such  an  act  of 
faith,  no  man  would  start  on  a  voyage,  or  enter  into 
marriage,  or  bring-  up  children,  or  entrust  the  seed- 
corn  to  the  earth,  for  the  result  of  the  undertaking 
must  be  in  all  cases  doubtful.  "  If  hope  and  faith  in 
the  future  are  the  necessary  conditions  of  the  continu- 
ance of  human  life,  especially  where  some  uncertainty 
remains   as  to  the   results  of  our   activity,!   shall  not 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  V.  77. 

t  Ovct  tu  i/wl  irpooixfre,  k$v  diddcncw/jitv,  tpctftsv.     (Ibid.,  V.  76.) 
I   2uv6X"  tov  fiiov  tv  iraoy  wpd%u  dSi/Xtp,  oVwr  iicfiijoeTai,  1/  i\7rig  nai 
ri  Viang.     (Ibid.,  I.  11.) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        577 

faith  appear  yet  more  necessary  when  we  are  con- 
templating a  venture  far  more  momentous  than  navi- 
gation, marriage,  or  seed-sowing  ?  He  in  whom  we 
have  to  place  our  faith  is  the  God  who  has  made  all 
things,  and  who,  in  the  accomplishment  of  His  great 
designs,  has  Himself  submitted  to  suffering  and  a 
shameful  death,  that  the  truth  might  have  free  course 
among  men."  Again :  no  one  enters  a  school  of 
philosophy,  and  devotes  himself  to  its  high  studies, 
unless  he  previously  has  confidence  in  the  master  he 
has  chosen.  Thus  this  very  faith  with  which  we  are 
upbraided,  is  the  door  to  the  very  philosophy  which  is 
placed  in  opposition  to  us.  Can  it,  indeed,  be  a  reason- 
able thing  to  place  confidence  in  one  of  the  heads  of 
the  innumerable  schools  which  have  been  established 
in  Greece,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  barbarous  world, 
and  yet  not  reasonable  to  believe  in  the  Supreme 
Master,  who  has  proved  that  He  alone  merits  our 
adoration?*  Christianity,  then,  when  it  requires  faith 
from  its  adherents,  does  not  in  any  way  take  a  strange 
and  exceptional  p  osition  ;  it  follows  the  common  rule 
laid  down  by  reason  itself. 

This  faith  also,  as  we  have  seen,  rests  upon  a  good 
foundation.  The  Christian  has  placed  his  trust  in  One 
who  is  supremely  worthy  of  it.  So  far  from  interdict- 
ing inquiry,  faith  courts  it :  everything  in  Christianity 
encourages  and  quickens  thought.  The  most  learned 
philosophy  does  not  so  stimulate  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
as  does  revelation,  by  the  oracles  of  its  prophets,  by 
its  symbols  and  parables. t  Christianity  fully  recognises 

*  Uu>g  ovxi  fidWov  t<jj  i-l  -xaoi  Ottf  iriorevuv.     ("Contra  Celsum," 
I.  II.) 

f  Evpi9i]oerai  kcu  iv  r<o  x<llflT""'ir7l"fJ  °^K  tkaTTwVji&TaaiQ  tu>v  7rt7r«j« 
nvfievow.      (Ibid.,  I.  9;   comp.  III.  45-74.) 


578  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  superiority  of  a  solidly-established  conviction.* 
While  the  humble  Christian,  who  is  not  equal  to  any 
sustained  train  of  logical  thought,  finds  all  the  argu- 
ment he  requires  in  the  Master's  word,  the  Christian 
of  larger  mental  power  is  bound  to  seek  aids  to  faith, 
whether  in  the  interpretation  of  Holy  Scripture,  or  in 
philosophical  reasoning.  The  sacred  writings  them- 
selves enjoin  the  use  of  the  rational  faculties  in 
religion. t  When  the  Apostle  Paul  calls  wisdom  folly, 
he  is  speaking  of  the  wisdom  of  the  world.  That 
wisdom  is  folly  because  it  deals  solely  with  that  which 
is  sensible ;  it  believes  in  matter  only,  and  recognises 
nothing  beyond  the  visible.  We  have  reason  then  to  call 
it  folly  in  spite  of  its  specious  arguments.  J  "  On  the 
other  hand,  we  call  that  the  wisdom  of  God,  which 
draws  our  soul  away  from  lower  things  to  set  it  upon 
the  high  and  blessed  God,  which  teaches  us  to  lightly 
esteem  all  that  is  bounded  by  time  and  space,  and 
to  rise  to  the  contemplation  of  the  invisible,  of  those 
things  which  eye  hath  not  seen."§  Christianity  presents 
itself  to  us  as  the  highest  philosophy.  If  some  of  its 
adherents  speak  otherwise,  and  boast  of  their  ignorance, 
it  is  unjust  to  impute  to  the  Gospel  that  for  which 
these  persons  alone  are  answerable.  The  Christian 
faith  is  in  very  truth  founded  on  reason.  |!  Faith  is 
in  harmony  with  the  universal  consciousness  of  man. IT 
The  soul,  endowed  with  reason,  has  but  to  consult  its 

'•:   TIo\\<£  diaipspu  fiird  \6yov  Kai  ootyiaq  ovyKarariQiodai  rolg  doyuaoiv, 
ilirtp  utra  \pi\>~ig  jriffrewg.     ("Contra  Celsum,"  I.  13.) 
f  Ibid.,  IV.  9,  VI.  11  ;  comp.  VI.  7  ) 
X  Ibid.,  in.  47-73. 

§     ^TTEvSilV     E7TL     TO.     CLOpO-TCL     KCLl    OKOTT&V     TCt    fit]    fiXeTropiVCC,     TOLVTCL    <f)7]Ot 

ooty'tav  tlvcu  Ofov.     (Ibid.,  III.  47  :  comp.  III.  72.) 

II  Ibid,  III.  44.     ^  F  ' 

11  Ta  rrjg  Trior  tug  iffiCov  ralg  KoivaXg   ivvoiaig   dpxrjQsv   ovvayopiuovra. 
(Ibid.,  III.  40.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      579 

own  nature,  and  it  will  reject  the  gods  it  has  falsely 
worshipped,  and  find  the  native  element  of  its  spiritual 
life  in  its  Creator."*  Thus  even  in  the  folly  of  the  cross 
is  maintained  that  great  moral  law,  that  all  certainty  in 
religious  matters  must  be  based  on  the  inherent  relation 
between  the  soul  and  the  truth.  Origen  is  ever  mindful 
that  religious  truth  belongs  essentially  to  the  realm  of 
morals.  He  asks  how  that  truth  can  by  possibility 
clash  with  the  nature  of  man,  in  which  God  has  from 
the  beginning  engraven  His  law — a  law  of  holiness, 
which  abides  for  ever  as  the  charter  of  the  universal 
kingdom  and  of  the  spiritual  community,  a  law  which 
no  written  legislation  can  ever  nullify  or  abrogate.! 
Before  the  prophets  and  the  Saviour  taught  divine 
lessons  to  man,  God  had  already  written  those  lessons 
on  the  fleshy  tables  of  the  human  heart.J  Origen  thus 
denies  as  positively  as  Clement,  the  existence  of  any 
contradiction  between  faith  and  knowledge.  The  one 
leads  to  the  other ;  for  in  this  higher  region  of  know- 
ledge, science  must  necessarily  be  founded  upon  faith. 
Let  philosophy  cease  then  to  speak  contemptuously  of 
Christian  faith,  which,  so  far  from  stultifying  thought, 
lends  it  wings  to  rise  into  the  sphere  of  the  divine. 

From  the  question  of  the  method  of  Christian  teach- 
ing, Origen  passes  to  the  treatment  of  its  substance. 
It  is  not  enough  to  have  established  that  faith  rests 
upon  examination  ;  it  is  needful  further  to  show  the 
result  of  that  examination,  and  to  demonstrate  that 
the  Christian  doctrine  does  actually  meet  the  true  needs 
of  the  soul,  and  has  valid  claims  on  our  confidence. 

*  <$>i\rpov    uvaXafifidvti     <pvoiKov     to    npbg    riv    KTiaavra.      ("  Contra 

Celsuny"  III.  40.1  t  Ibid.,  V.  37.  ( 

J  AioTTip  oviiv  9av[ia<rrbv,  tov  avrbv  Qiiv  iiirip  tcicat,i  cid  twv  Trpo<prj- 
nZv  icai  tou  Oiorripor  eytcariGoapKivai  rauj  dwavTuv  uvdpwTrujv  y^vxaiQ. 
(Ibid.,  I.  3  ;  comp.  VIII.  72. ) 


580  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

One  of  the  objections  made  to  the  exclusive  demands 
of  Christianity,  was  founded  on  the  points  of  resem- 
blance it  presented  with  the  philosophies  and  religions 
of  antiquity.  Origen  first  reduces  these  analogies  to 
their  exact  value,  and  then  makes  use  of  them  as  a 
fresh  argument  in  support  of  the  faith.  Those  who 
controverted  the  originality  of  Christianity  made  it 
their  grand  endeavour  to  confound  it  with  Platonism. 
From  their  representations  it  would  seem  that  the 
Gospel  was  but  Platonism  wrongly  construed ;  and 
they  found  more  than  one  specious  argument  to  adduce 
in  support  of  their  thesis.  The  philosophy  of  Plato 
wras,  as  we  have  seen,  the  loftiest  flight  of  ancient 
thought  towards  the  ideal ;  in  spite  of  all  its  errors, 
it  gave  expression  to  the  sacred  aspirations  of  con- 
science in  sublime  language,  and  while  it  was  still 
fatally  weighted  with  the  invincible  dualism  under 
which  paganism  had  succumbed,  it  at  least  caught  a 
glimpse  of  truths  which  it  failed  either  to  consecrate 
into  a  religion,  or  to  disengage  from  flagrant  contra- 
dictions. It  was  natural  that  there  should  be  a  remark- 
able correspondence  between  the  religion  which  brought 
these  great  truths  into  full  and  clear  light,  and  the 
philosophy  which  had  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for 
them.  Again :  Christianity,  taking  form  in  the  Greek 
world,  could  not  but  use  the  language  of  Greece ;  and 
that  language,  in  all  the  expressions  of  higher  thought, 
was  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Plato.  Hence 
arose  numerous  analogies  of  expression,  which  it  was 
easy  to  misconstrue.  It  was,  therefore,  of  extreme 
importance  to  vindicate  the  originality  of  the  Gospel 
in  distinction  from  Platonism.  Origen  has  devoted  to 
this  important  discussion,  the  greater  part  of  the  sixth 
book  of  his  treatise   against   Celsus.     He  commences 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      581 

by  showing  that  if  on  some  points  the  Christians 
coincide  with  the  Platonists ;  if  they  sanction  the  purer 
notions  of  the  divinity  diffused  by  the  Academy  ;  if  they 
also  repudiate  the  gross  polytheism  of  the  many;  if 
they  approvingly  endorse  the  noble  words  of  Plato  on 
the  Supreme  Good — the  spark  of  which  is  kindled  spon- 
taneously in  the  human  soul ; — they  have  at  least  this 
advantage,  that  they  act  conformably  with  these  high  be- 
liefs, while  the  philosophers,  after  all  their  eloquent  dis- 
sertations on  the  Supreme  Good,  "  go  down  to  the 
Piraeus  to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  Diana,  to  offer  prayer 
to  her,  and  to  take  part  in  the  feast  celebrated  in  her 
honour  by  an  ignorant  multitude."  After  discoursing 
on  the  soul,  and  on  the  blessed  reward  of  virtue,  they 
lose  sight  of  these  grand  truths  revealed  to  them  by 
God,  debase  themselves  by  beggarly  superstitions, 
and  sacrifice  a  cock  to  Esculapius.*  It  is  a  false 
assertion  that  ancient  philosophy  scorned  to  seek  sup- 
port in  prodigies,  and  placed  all  its  reliance  in  the 
inherent  power  of  truth.  While  the  miracles  of  the 
Gospel  are  simple  and  sublime,  the  marvels  of  pagan 
philosophy  are  a  tissue  of  idle  legends.  Who  cannot 
call  to  mind  the  fables  current  about  the  birth  of 
Plato  and  the  adventures  of  Pythagoras  ?  t  If  a  closer 
scrutiny  be  made  of  the  thoughts  which  are  common 
to  Platonism  and  to  the  sacred  books  of  the  Christians, 
it  will  be  seen  that  these  truths  had  been  uttered  by 
the  prophets,  ages  before  the  time  of  the  philosopher 
of  the  Academy,  while  it  is  not  possible  to  charge  the 
prophets  and  apostles  with  having  sought  and  found 
these  precious  pearls   in  Greece.}     Lamentable  errors 

*  'AAA'  o\  TOuavTa  ntfn  -ov  7rpoJTOV  dyaOou  ypd^/aVTBg  KarafSaivowxiv  tic 
Uipaita,  wpoaev^ofitvoi  wg  Qtio  ry  Apri/juSi.    ("  Contra  Celsum/'  VI.  4.) 

t  Ibid.,  VI.  8.  J  Ibid.,  VI.  7,9,  10. 


5S2  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

also  are  found  associated  with  these  sublime  ideas, 
even  in  the  writings  of  the  divine  Plato  ;*  and,  in  any 
case,  the  grand  truths  are  conveyed  in  an  incomplete 
and  obscure  form,  which  mars  and  veils  their  true 
beauty.  Plato  has  nobly  said  "  that  no  poet  has  ever 
yet  sung,  nor  ever  will  sing  worthily,  of  the  good 
which  is  higher  than  the  heavens." 

Origen  claims  our  very  highest  admiration  for  a 
moderation  of  thought  which  always  prevents  him  from 
going. to  extremes,  and  for  the  just  measure  which  he 
retains  in  all  his  arguments.  Thus  he  does  not  allow 
himself  to  be  led  into  pronouncing  a  sweeping  anathema 
upon  the  whole  culture  of  the  ancients.  Satisfied  with 
having  established  the  originality  and  novelty  of  the 
religion  of  Christ,  he  gladly  points  out  the  stepping- 
stones  towards  it  in  the  ancient  world,  and  these 
stepping-stones  he  discovers  not  only  in  the  schools  of 
the  philosophers,  but  even  in  the  polluted  temples  of 
paganism.  There  was  nothing  to  be  added  to  that  which 
Clement  had  so  well  said  upon  the  high  mission  of  Greek 
philosophy.  Origen  explicitly  acknowledges  that  all  the 
elements  of  truth  contained  in  it,  have  a  divine  source.! 
But  he  goes  further :  the  most  absurd  myths  are,  in  his 
view,  the  confused  and  disordered  expression  of  the 
aspirations  of  the  human  conscience.  In  all  the  count- 
less legends  which  relate  to  the  miraculous  birth  of 
heroes  or  eminent  sages,  he  sees  a  vague  presentiment 
of  the  incarnation. 

Celsus,  as  we  have  seen,  in  his  pantheistic  mate- 
rialism, delighted  to  degrade  man  to  the  level  of  the 
brute.       Origen,    after    vindicating   the    principles     of 

*  "  Contra  Celsum,"  VI.  17. 

\  'O  Qioq  yap  ai'Toig  ravTa  Kal  baa  koXojq  XtXttcrai  iQavtpioot.  (Ibid., 
VI.  3. 


BOOK   III. — THE   DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.       583 

theism,  uses  his  lofty  eloquence  to  exalt  the  dignity  of 
human  nature.  He  says :  "  A  being  endowed  with 
reason  and  capable  of  good,  cannot  be  likened  to  a 
worm  of  the  earth.  The  idea  of  good,  of  which  he  is 
capable,  and  the  indestructible  germs  of  virtue  within 
him,  forbid  such  a  comparison.  Reason,  which  proceeds 
from  the  Divine  Word,  maintains  an  enduring  relation 
between  the  rational  creature  and  God."  *  Let  it  not 
be  said  that  man  is  lower  than  the  brutes,  because  his 
natural  wants  are  less  easily  supplied.  This  inferiority 
is  in  reality  an  advantage,  for  it  stimulates  his  ac- 
tivity, and  God  designed  thus  to  call  into  exercise  all 
his  powers  and  capabilities,  and  to  lead  him  on  to  the 
practice  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences  of  civilisation.  He 
is  invested  with  a  true  kingship  over  the  inferior 
creatures,  t 

Man  must,  after  all,  be  always  separated  from  the  brute 
by  the  whole  distance  which  divides  instinct  from  reason 
— the  image  of  God  in  us.t  The  world,  therefore,  was 
made,  not  for  creatures  endowed  simply  with  instinct,  but 
for  those  who  have  the  gift  of  reason.  While  God  is  not 
angry  with  monkeys  or  flies,  He  chastises  men  who 
break  His  law.§  This  chastisement  is  a  mark  of  His 
love  and  respect  for  the  human  creature,  and  enables  us 
to  believe  that  He  may  move  heaven  and  earth  for  man's 
salvation.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  incarnation 
and  humiliation  of  the  Son  of  God  for  human  redemp- 
tion can  be  conceived.  It  was  not  to  augment  His  own 
glory  that  the  Word  came  down  to  earth  ;  it  was  that 
by  shedding  abroad  His  light  in  our  hearts,  and  draw- 
ing us  by  intimate   association   to  Himself,   He  might 

*  Ouk  4$  to  \oyaci>v  X,h)OV  TTCLvry  aWorpiov  vofxiaB^vca  Otou.      ("  Contra 
Celsum,"  IV.  25.)  +  Ibid,  V.  78. 

I  Eikujv  tov  Otov  b  \6yog.     (Ibid.,  IV.  85.)  §  Ibid.,  IV.  98. 


584  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

bring  us  back  to  God.*     Was  not  that  very  humiliation 
itself  the  sacrifice  of  redeeming  love  ? 

While  recognising  the  necessity  of  miracles,  Origen 
does  not  make  these  the  grand  support  of  his  apology, 
which  rests  entirely  on  moral  grounds.  He  brings  out 
in  an  admirable  manner  the  difference  between  Chris- 
tian miracles  and  magic.  "  Show  me  the  magician  who 
calls  upon  the  spectators  of  his  prodigies  to  reform 
their  life,  or  who  teaches  his  admirers  the  fear  of  God, 
and  seeks  to  persuade  them  to  act  as  those  who  must 
appear  before  Him  as  their  judge  ?  The  magicians  do 
nothing  of  the  sort,  either  because  they  are  incapable 
of  it  or  because  they  have  no  such  desire.  Themselves 
charged  with  crimes  the  most  shameful  and  infamous, 
how  should  they  attempt  the  reformation  of  the  morals 
of  others  ?  The  miracles  of  Christ,  on  the  contrary, 
all  bear  the  impress  of  His  own  holiness,  and  He  ever 
uses  them  as  the  means  of  winning  to  the  cause  of 
goodness  and  truth  those  who  witnessed  them.  Thus 
He  presented  His  own  life  as  the  perfect  model,  not 
only  to  His  immediate  disciples  but  to  all  men.  He 
taught  His  disciples  to  make  known  to  those  that 
heard  them,  the  perfect  will  of  God ;  and  He  revealed 
to  mankind,  far  more  by  His  life  and  words  than  by  His 
miracles,*  the  secret  of  that  holiness  by  which  it  is 
possible  in  all  things  to  please  God.  If  such  was 
the  life  of  Jesus,  how  can  He  be  compared  to  mere 
charlatans,  and  why  may  we  not  believe  that  He 
was  indeed  God  manifested  in  the  flesh,  for  the  salva- 
tion of  our  race  ?  "  Origen  brings  his  moral  demon- 
stration   to    a   climax  by  appealing  to  the   life  of  the 

*  *  Contra  Celsum,"  IV.  6. 

f  TlXiov  dicaxOt'vTtg  airo  rod  \6yov  Kal  ijBovg  1)  cnrb  riov  7rapad61£u)V  uiq 
XP»)  fiiovv.     (Ibid.,  I.  68.) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        585 

Christians,    to    their   glorious    triumphs    over   sin    and 
persecution. 

We  have  thus  briefly  sketched  this  great  apology, 
placing  it  before  us  in  more  regular  order  than  we  find  it 
in  his  book,  but  retaining  all  its  characteristic  features. 
He  replied  to  the  principal  objections  of  his  adversaries, 
not  only  by  refuting  them  on  their  own  ground,  but  also 
by  meeting  them  with  views  broader,  truer,  higher  than 
any  they  had  advanced.  He  followed  the  Jew  on  to  the 
arena  of  rabbinical  exegesis  ;  he  confounded  him  from 
the  very  text  of  Scripture,  proving  that  he  was  unfaithful 
to  his  own  revelation,  and  that  if  he  had  listened  to 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  they  would  have  led  him  to 
the  foot  of  the  cross.  His  vigorous  reasoning  broke  the 
dialectic  network  in  which  pagan  philosophy  sought  to 
ensnare  him  ;  he  nobly  vindicated  the  Christians  from 
all  the  base  calumnies  current  in  the  muddy  stream  of 
popular  superstition.  The  apologist  showed  that  this 
herd  of  obscure  individuals,  among  whom  the  slave  and 
the  brigand  found  a  ready  place,  was  in  truth  the 
Church  of  the  living  God,  the  hidden  prop  of  the  world, 
which  is  upheld  and  continued  only  for  its  sake  ;  he 
marked  in  these  proscribed  men  the  dignity  of  conscience, 
daring  to  rebel  against  human  precepts  in  obedience 
to  a  higher  law,  and  he  pointed  to  the  novel  claim  of 
moral  freedom,  about  to  assert  itself  in  victorious 
opposition  to  ancient  despotism.  To  the  injurious 
accusations  laid  against  Christianity,  Origen  replied  by 
describing  its  peaceable  triumphs  in  the  midst  of  an 
opposing  world,  and  observed  that  its  progress  might 
be  tracked  by  bleeding  footprints,  and  by  benefits 
conferred.  A  new  society,  the  school  of  all  virtues, 
purifying  all  who  entered  it,  had  arisen  in  the  midst  of 
the  darkness  of  universal  corruption,  and  heroic  sufferings 

38 


5S6  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

had  sealed,  first,  the  testimony  of  its  early  apostles,  and 
then  that  o£  innumerable  missionaries.  From  the  defence 
of  the  Christians  themselves,  Origen  proceeds  to  that  of 
the  religion  they  honour.  He  proves  its  superiority  in 
the  matter  of  form,  its  transparent  simplicity  making 
the  truth  accessible  to  the  unlearned  man,  to  the  child, 
the  woman,  and  the  slave,  and  he  repeats  the  beautiful 
and  touching  invitation  of  Christ :  "If  any  man 
thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  This  pure 
and  limpid  stream  of  living  water  was  surely  better 
than  that  intoxicating  cup  of  man's  admixture,  which 
was  offered  only  to  a  few  of  the  initiated — the  wor- 
shippers of  artistic  beauty.  In  that  doctrine  which 
men  called  foolishness,  because  it  could  not  be  arrived 
at  by  a  process  of  pure  and  unaided  reasoning, — since 
it  was  as  much  beyond  the  grasp  of  man  as  the  finite 
is  beyond  the  infinite, — the  apologist  discerns  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  of  truth,  and  he  shows  that 
faith  is  a  legitimate  mode  of  attaining  certainty,  and  one 
in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  knowledge.  Having 
established  by  an  erudite  discussion  the  originality  of 
the  new  religion,  showing  that  it  is  not  a  heterogeneous 
compound  of  the  religious  and  philosophical  ideas  of 
the  ancients,  he  presents  it  as  the  central  point  in  the 
history  of  mankind,  the  goal  of  all  its  aspirations. 
This  train  of  thought  leads  him  to  exalt  the  dignity  of 
man  in  the  name  of  a  true  theism,  as  opposed  to 
pantheistic  fatalism.  The  proud  philosophers  of  pan- 
theism, trampling  man's  moral  nature  in  the  dust, 
preferred  to  place  him  lower  than  the  brutes  rather 
than  bow  before  the  Crucified  One,  and  receive  salva- 
tion as  a  glorious  gift  from  a  free  and  personal  God. 
A  true  and  deep  respect  for  the  soul,  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  but  fallen  from  its  high   estate,  is  the 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.      587 

best  explanation  of  the  great  mystery  of  godliness — the 
humiliation  and  incarnation  of  the  God-Man.  The 
♦  resurrection  of  Christ  is  established  by  a  full  and 
learned  process  of  argument,  because  it  is  of  far  more 
significance  than  a  simple  miracle  ;  it  is  Christianity 
itself.  We  have  observed  that  Origen  does  not  make 
miracle  or  prophecy  the  main-stay  of  the  Gospel ;  in  and 
beyond  both  he  seeks  the  sacred  sign  of  the  ultimate  re- 
ligion for  mankind — that  impress  of  moral  perfection 
which  witnesses  to  the  Son  of  God.  The  person  of  the 
Good  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  who  lays  down  His  life  for 
them,  and  with  yearning  compassion  goes  after  that  which 
is  lost,  until  He  find  it,  shines  forth  with  pure  and  hea- 
venly lustre  throughout  the  work  of  Origen.  He  is  per- 
petually set  forth  as  the  Desire  of  all  nations,  the  true 
desire  of  the  heart  of  every  man.  But  in  order  to  discern 
His  beauty  and  His  divinity  beneath  the  veil  of  His  hu- 
miliation, the  new  eye  is  needed,  the  eye  of  the  pure  in 
heart.  Sin  must  be  cast  away ;  the  soul  must  rise  out 
of  the  dust  of  this  lower  world,  to  those  clear  heights 
which  the  mists  of  earth  cannot  reach.  Those  alone 
will  see  and  believe,  who  desire  to  hear  and  see. 
Origen  insists,  with  holy  importunity,  whether  he  is 
addressing  himself  to  Jew  or  Greek,  on  the  necessity 
of  this  determination  of  the  will.  Every  question, 
whether  of  greater  or  less  importance,  leads  him  to 
urge  this  act  of  moral  volition,  on  which  faith,  with  all 
its  divine  evidences,  will  follow.  His  whole  apology 
might  be  summed  up  in  this  saying  of  Christ :  "  If  any 
man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine 
whether  it  be  of  God."  Thus  he  harmonises  respect 
for  human  nature  with  hatred  of  the  sin  which  has 
defiled  it;  largeness  of  thought  with  strictness  of  con- 
science.    Profiting  by  the   labours  of  those  who   had 


588  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

gone  before  him,  Origen  gave  to  Christian  antiquity 
its  most  complete  apology — that  which  is  most  in  confor- 
mity with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  was  best  adapted 
to  bring  men's  thoughts  into  captivity  to  the  obedience 
of  Christ,  in  the  age  of  universal  agitation  in  which 
he  lived.  Many  centuries  were  yet  to  elapse  before 
the  Church  could  present  to  the  world  any  other 
defence  of  her  faith  comparable  to  this  noble  book 
written  by  one  under  the  ban  of  excommunication. 

The  West  gives  us  but  two  apologists  belonging 
to  this  noble  school.  The  first  is  St.  Hippolytus, 
bishop  of  the  port  of  Rome.  We  find  these  significant 
words  in  his  treatise  against  the  Jews  : *  "The  eye  of 
reason  is  the  Spirit ;  t  by  it  we  discern  spiritual  things. 
If  you  have  the  Spirit,  you  will  comprehend  heavenly 
things,  for  like  comprehends  like."  We  might  almost 
imagine  these  were  the  words  of  Clement  of  Alexandria. 
Hippolytus  admits  that  the  ancient  world  was  not 
wholly  destitute  of  truth ;  he  cites  with  eulogy  some 
of  the  noble  thoughts  of  Plato.J  He  does  not  hesitate 
to  take  up,  in  his  book  on  the  Universe,  the  myth  of 
Timseus,  in  reference  to  the  future  life.  The  famous 
motto  of  Socrates,  Know  thyself,  is,  he  says,  con- 
firmed by  the  Gospel,  which  has  revealed  to  us  that 
the  true  destiny  of  man  is  to  be  completely  united  to 
God.§  From  the  great  pile  of  pagan  error  and  super- 
stition, as  from  a  vast  heap  of  smouldering'  ruins,  rises 
a  flame,  an  aspiration,  a  desire,  which  will  point  true 

*  A  fragment  of  the  "Discourse  to  the  Jews  "  is  found  in  Appendix 
III.  of  the  anonymous  "  Acta  Martyrum,"  p.  449-488.  The  unknown 
compiler  ascribed  it  to  Cyprian  ;  but  the  clear  analogy  of  the 
passage  with  the  fragment  we  find  in  Fabricius  points  conclusively 
to  Hippolytus  as  the  author. 

f  To  irvevpa.  I   "  Philosoph.,"  I.  19. 

§  Ibid.,  I.  18,  compared  with  Ibid  ,  X.  34. 


BOOK   I'll. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      589 

hearts  to  Christ.  "  The  word,"  he  says,  "will  help 
those  who  are  eager  to  know  the  truth,  not  only  to 
escape  the  seductive  snares  of  heresy,  because  its  prin- 
ciples will  be  known,  but  also  not  to  be  troubled  in 
mind  by  the  opinions  of  the  philosophers,  because  a 
true  vision  will  pierce  through  their  dark  sayings."  * 

The  following  fragment  from  the  writings  of  Minu- 
tius  Felix,  shows  that  he  belonged  to  the  same  school 
of  apologists  :  "  Have  we  not  on  this  matter  the 
universal  consent  of  mankind  ?  When  the  unlettered 
man  raises  his  hands  to  heaven,  he  utters  no  name  but 
the  name  of  God.  God  is  great;  God  is  true ;  if  it  pleases 
God ;  such  is  the  voice  of  Nature,  and  would  not  this 
also  be  the  prayer  of  the  Christian  ?  Those  who  make 
Jupiter  the  sovereign  deity,  err  only  in  name  ;  they  are 
one  with  us  as  to  the  unity  of  the  power." 

These  closing  words  show  that  Minutius  Felix  dis- 
cerned, even  in  the  gross  darkness  of  popular  paganism, 
a  ray  of  religious  truth,  the  smoking  flax  of  the  prophet ; 
and  this  vision  of  the  divine  he  saw  shining  forth  far 
more  clearly  in  the  higher  culture  of  antiquity.  Minu- 
tius takes  pleasure  in  gathering  up  the  witness  of  poets 
and  philosophers  to  the  unity  and  majesty  of  God  ;  he 
is,  indeed,  perhaps  open  to  the  charge  of  giving  too 
favourable  an  interpretation  to  indefinite  expressions' 
which,  in  their  natural  sense,  belonged  rather  to  a 
vague  pantheism,  than  to  a  genuine  and  sound  mono- 
theism. He  goes  further  than  the  boldest  of  the  school 
of  Alexandrine  catechists,  in  his  estimate  of  the  results 
of  the  ancient  philosophy.  "  I  have  given,"  he  says, 
"the  opinions  of  all  the  most  illustrious  philosophers. 
All  have  taught  the  one  God  under  various  names,  so 

*  "En  ck  Kcti  tovq  r{)  dXijOtia.  irpooixovTCiQ  cpCkopaQuQ  7rpo(3ij3dau  6 
\6yog.     ("  Philosoph.,"  IV.  45. ) 


590  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

that  it  might  be  inferred  either  that  Christians  are  the 
philosophers  of  our  day,  or  that  the  philosophers  were 
Christians  by  anticipation."*  Elsewhere  Octavius 
appeals  to  the  testimony  of  the  philosophers,  in  support 
of  the  dogma  of  the  final  judgment  and  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, but  in  this  respect  he  exaggerates  the  influence 
of  Hebrew  prophecy  over  the  schools  of  Greece. t 


§  III.    The  Second  School  of  Apologists  of  Primitive 
Christianity. 

In  addition  to  the  great  school  of  apologists  who 
recognise  a  work  of  preparation  for  Christianity  in  the 
ancient  world,  and  especially  in  the  higher  develop- 
ments of  Greek  philosophy,  we  find  another  school  of 
narrower  views,  which,  while  admitting  like  the  former 
an  essential  relation  between  the  new  religion  and  the 
human  soul,  condemns  in  toto,  and  often  with  much 
bitterness,  everything  born  of  paganism,  whether  the 
philosophical  systems  of  the  schools,  or  the  mysterious 
fables  of  the  sanctuaries.  This  school  of  apologists, 
though  inferior  in  mental  power  to  that  which  flourished 
at  Alexandria,  pleaded  the  cause  of  Christianity  with 
greater,  because  more  passionate  eloquence,  while  no 
considerations  availed  to  temper  or  check  the  virulence 
of  its  invectives.  We  shall  pass  rapidly  over  the 
inferior  works  belonging  to  this  school,  that  we  may 
form  our  estimate  of  it,  more  particularly  from  its  most 
distinguished  writings. 

The   line    of  demarcation  between   the    more  timid 

*  Ut  quivis  arbitretur,  aut  nunc  Christianos  philosophos  esse, 
aut  philosophos  fuisse  jam  Christianos."     ("  Octav,"  xx .) 

•f  "  Quod  illi  de  divinis  praedicationibus  prophetarum  umbram 
interpolatae  veritatis  imitati  sunt."     (Ibid.,  xxxiv.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      5QI 

apologists  of  the  broad  school,  and  the  more  moderate 
of  the  school  we  are  now  considering,  is  somewhat  diffi- 
cult to  trace.  Both  admit  that  the  Greek  philoso- 
phers were  acquainted  with  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Jews,  but  they  differ  in  this,  that  while  Justin  and 
Athenagoras  suppose  a  direct  operation  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  the  soul  of  the  illustrious  representatives 
of  paganism,  the  apologists  of  the  second  school  refer 
the  scattered  elements  of  truth  found  in  the  midst  o: 
pagan  error,  exclusively  to  the  writings  of  Moses  and 
the  prophets.  They  also  appeal  to  the  oracles  of  the 
Sibyl,  which  they  regard  as  a  true  prophecy  given  to 
Greece. 

(a.)  Tertulliaiu 

The  two  "  Discourses  to  the  Greeks,"  falsely  attri- 
buted to  Justin,  are  distinguished  by  the  bitterness  of 
their  sarcasms  against  the  whole  ancient  pagan  world. 
Tatian,  who  subsequently  became  a  heretic,  is  even 
more  violent  and  implacable  in  his  hostility  to  all 
the  higher  culture  of  the  ancients.  The  "  Letter  to 
Diognetes,"  though  more  moderate  in  form,  is  no  less 
severe  upon  the  religion  and  philosophy  of  Greece.* 

*  The  "  Letter  to  Diognetes"  was,  as  is  well-known,  long  attributed 
to  Justin.  This  theory  has  been  taken  up  with  a  great  show  of 
demonstration  by  Otto  ("  In  Opera  Justin,"  1849.  Vol.  II.  p.  156)  ; 
but  it  will  not  bear  close  examination.  1st.  The  difference  between 
the  unknown  author  and  Justin  Martyr  is  very  marked.  This  is 
at  once  palpable,  if  a  page  of  the  two  Apologies  and  a  page  of  the 
"  Dialogue  with  Trypho"  be  collated.  2nd.  The  difference  of  thought 
on  very  important  points  is  no  less  distinct.  The  doctrine  of  the 
spermatic  Word  is  entirely  absent  from  the  "  Epistle  to  Diognetes." 
Paganism  is  there  represented  as  absolute  error,  and  no  exception  is 
made  in  favour  of  the  philosophers.  The  Mosaic  institutions  are 
condemned  with  equal  severity,  while  in  the  "  Dialogue  with  Trypho," 
their  divine  origin  is  clearly  acknowledged.  3rd  The  author  of 
the  "  Letter  to  Diognetes  "  regards  the  talse  gods  as  merely  idols  of 


5Q2  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Tertullian  was  the  most  illustrious  representative  of 
the  second  school  of  apologists ;  he  expounded  its 
principles  with  all  his  incomparable  power  of  style. 
No  one  has  vindicated  more  forcibly  than  he,  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  human  soul  to  God,  and  no  one  has 
pronounced  a  sterner  or  more  sweeping  anathema  on  all 
the  past  of  paganism.  We  shall  not  here  revert  to 
that  part  of  his  Apology  which  may  be  regarded  as  a 
forensic  plea ;  of  this  we  have  already  given  a  full 
analysis.  We  have  listened  to  his  eloquent  and  solemn 
protest  against  the  injustice  of  the  course  pursued 
towards  the  Christians,  and  to  his  juridical  demon- 
stration, that  their  condemnation  by  the  tribunals  of 
the  empire  was  illegal.  This  part  of  his  treatise  is 
entirely  distinct  from  the  theoretic  discussion  of  the 
Christian  religion.  In  order  to  place  beyond  a  doubt 
the  iniquity  of  the  Roman  judges,  it  sufficed  to  de- 
nounce their  practices,  and  to  refute  the  calumnies 
popularly  circulated  against  the  Christians.  It  was  of 
great  importance  to  disprove  the  dangerous  charge  of 
rebellion  against  the  emperor;  and  lastly,  it  was  need- 
wood  and  stone  ;  Justin  treats  them  as  demoniacal  powers.  It  is, 
therefore,  impossible  to  consider  him  the  author  of  a  writing  which 
is  directly  contradictory  of  his  most  characteristic  views.  (See  the 
working  out  of  this  thesis  in  Semisch,  "Justin  der  Martyrer," 
Breslau,  1840,  Vol.  I.  p.  172  ;  and  in  his  article  in  Herzog's  "  Ency- 
clopaedia" on  the  "  Letter  to  Diognetes."  See  also  the  "  Prolegou- 
mena"  of  Hefele's  edition  of  the  "Apostolic  Fathers,"  1849.) 
Dorner,  not  without  hesitation,  ascribes  the  anonymous  letters  to 
Ouadratus.  ("Die  Person  Christi,"  Vol.  I.  p.  198.)  Bunsen,  with- 
out sufficient  reason,  ascribes  it  to  Marcion  ("  Hippolytus,"  Vol.  I. 
p.  130.)  The  genuineness  of  the  last  two  chapters  is  .strongly 
disputed  for  three  reasons  : — 1.  The  oldest  MS.  of  the  letter  bears 
evident  traces  of  the  doubt  which  hung  over  this  fragment  of 
Christian  antiquity.  2.  The  Epistle  suddenly  changes  tone  ;  it 
drops  the  form  of  a  letter,  and  takes  the  turn  of  a  general  allocu- 
tion. 3.  The  author  speaks  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  in  a 
manner  which  contradicts  the  former  part  of  the  "  Letter  to 
Diognetes," 


BOOK  III. — THE   DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.       593 

ful  to  set  the  impunity  allowed  to  the  crimes  of  the 
pagans  in  contrast  with  the  implacable  severity,  with 
which  the  most  innocent  and  law-abiding  citizens  were 
treated.  This  argument,  of  which  we  have  shown  the 
close  continuity  and  impassioned  process,  is  conclusive 
as  a  defensive  plea  for  the  Christians  ;  but  the  apology, 
properly  so  called,  required  a  more  vigorous  effort  of 
thought.  The  forensic  question,  which  is  always  more 
or  less  external,  must  give  place  to  the  religious  and 
philosophical  question ;  the  great  cause  now  to  be 
pleaded  is  the  subject-matter  itself  of  the  religion  of 
Christ.  Is  that  religion  indeed  the  sole  true  and  divine 
religion  ?  This  is  the  capital  point  to  be  established. 
Tertullian  has  not  evaded  this  difficult  task ;  the  con- 
cluding chapters  of  his  Apology,  and  his  treatise  on  the 
"  Testimony  of  the  Soul,"  are  devoted  to  this  line  of 
demonstration.  He  has  carried  into  it  the  asperity  of 
a  narrow  and  often  violent  spirit,  but  he  has  also  dis- 
played the  highest  qualities  of  his  genius.  He  has  left 
an  ineffaceable  track  in  the  domain  of  the  higher 
apology.  On  this  subject  he  has  written  some  of  those 
immortal  pages,  which  are  an  enduring  treasure  to  man- 
kind, and  to  which  every  generation  of  Christians  recurs 
as  to  a  text  of  inexhaustible  fulness.  To  exalt  human 
nature  in  itself,  but  at  the  same  time  to  pour  scorn 
on  all  that  goes  beyond  its  most  simple  and  natural 
manifestation,  all,  namely,  that  belongs  to  the  more  or 
less  refined  culture  of  the  intellect, — such  is  the  twofold 
purpose  of  Tertullian's  writing.  It  appears  in  all  his 
books,  and  is  most  fully  manifested  in  his  apology  for 
Christianity.  He  dwells,  therefore,  with  much  insist- 
ance  upon  the  aspirations  of  the  human  heart ;  he  is 
not  afraid  to  seek  in  fallen  man  a  pillar  or  stepping- 
stone  for  the  work  of  salvation,  but  at  the  same  time, 


594  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

by  a  strange  contradiction,  he  refuses  to  see  anything 
but  unmixed  error  in  the  higher  developments  of 
humanity  prior  to  Christianity.  The  divine  element, 
he  holds,  is  lost  as  thought  becomes  refined  and  culti- 
vated ;  philosophy  is,  in  his  eyes,  plagiarism  or  a  lie. 
The  exaltation  of  simple  human  nature,  the  utter  de- 
preciation of  all  mental  culture,  is  the  substance  of 
Tertullian's  apology.  Herein  lies  its  greatness  and  its 
weakness,  its  glory  and  its  inconsistency.  He  is  bold 
and  profound,  when  he  points  out  the  germ  of  the 
Word  existing  s';iil  in  fillen  man  ;  he  is  unjust  when 
he  charges  philosophy  with  necessarily  stifling  that 
germ. 

If  there  is  one  question  upon  which,  in  all  ages, 
apologists  have  been  divided,  it  is  the  question  of  the 
place  that  should  be  assigned  to  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture in  the  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  Christianity. 
One  large  school  has  maintained,  and  still  maintains, 
that  we  must  turn  from  the  Scriptures  to  Christ,  and 
not  from  Christ  to  the  Scriptures.  It  affirms  that  the 
sole  task  of  the  defender  of  Christianity,  is  to  establish 
the  claims  of  the  sacred  book  on  the  ground  of  miracle 
and  prophecy;  this  task  once  accomplished,  there  is 
nothing  more  to  be  done  than  to  open  the  Bible;  its 
texts  have  henceforward  the  force  of  law;  all  the 
mysteries  of  revelation  are  to  be  received  unreservedly  ; 
he  who  has  declared  his  faith  in  the  container,  must 
needs  believe  implicitly  in  that  which  it  contains. 
Another  school  objects,  with  reason,  that  such  a  method 
secures  only  a  purely  intellectual  assent ;  that  it  does 
not  carry  conviction  to  the  centre  of  the  moral  life,  to 
the  heart  and  conscience  ;  and  that  it  demands  from 
the  unbeliever  more  than  he  can  really  give,  for  the 
authority  of  the  letter  must  be  null  with  him,  till  he  shall 


BOOK   III. — THE   DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.        595 

have  been  reached  and  subdued  by  the  influence  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  which  is  the  life  of  the  letter,  and  which 
can  only  be  grasped  by  the  moral  faculties.  This 
second  school  holds,  therefore,  that  an  appeal  made 
to  the  conscience  must  be  the  first  thing,  and  that  the 
soul  must  be  brought  into  the  presence  of  Christ,  as 
He  is  represented  to  us  in  the  Scripture,  as  into  the 
presence  of  the  ideal  towards  which  its  own  aspirations 
reach,  and  that  thus  alone  can  the  divine  witness  be 
felt  and  perceived  in  the  holy  book,  which  is  filled  by 
the  presence  of  the  God-Man. 

Tertullian,  the  ardent  advocate  of  ecclesiastical 
authority  in  the  early  period  of  his  religious  life,  and 
the  author  of  the  treatise  on  the  Prescriptions,  openly 
avowed  these  often-decried  principles,  which  are  sup- 
posed in  our  day  to  be  new  because  they  have  been 
so  long  forgotten.  His  treatise  on  the  "  Testimony  of 
the  Soul"  opens  with  these  words:  "  Long  researches 
and  a  strong  memory  are  required  in  order  to  dis- 
cover by  study  the  evidences  in  support  of  Christian 
truth,  scattered  through  the  authentic  writings  of  the 
poets  and  philosophers,  or  in  those  of  any  masters 
of  the  philosophy  and  wisdom  of  this  age,  so  as  to 
carry  conviction  to  our  enemies  and  persecutors  from 
their  own  literature.  Some  Christians,  who  have  con- 
tinued to  cultivate  letters,  and  have  retained  in  a 
faithful  memory  their  former  literary  knowledge,  have 
composed,  with  a  view  to  convincing  the  pagans, 
treatises  in  which  they  have  sought  out  the  reason, 
the  origin,  and  connection  01  every  Christian  thought, 
and  they  have  thus  proved  that  our  .religion  has  in  it 
nothing  so  strange  ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  has  on  its 
side  the  universal  consent  oA  mankind  contained  in 
these  books,  and  that  it  has  confined  itself  to  suppress- 


596  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ing  errors  and  adding  truths  to  this  common  stock. 
But  obdurate  humanity  has  not  been  willing  to  believe 
its  own  masters,  even  the  most  illustrious  and  those 
of  highest  authority,  when  they  have  been  thus  made 
to  furnish  a  justification  of  Christianity;  and  yet  it 
was  these  very  same  poets  who  ascribed  to  the  gods 
the  passions  and  vanities  of  men,  and  these  very  same 
proud  philosophers  who  would  carry  the  gates  of  truth 
by  storm.  Let  us,  then,  leave  on  one  side  the  literary 
or  philosophical  works,  which  minister  only  a  delusive 
delight,,  and  of  which  the  errors  are  better  accredited 
than  the  truths.  Still,  further,  let  us  not  call  to  our 
aid  even  the  testimonies  which  the  Christian  recognises 
as  true,  if  we  would  be  free  from  all  reproach.  Our 
sacred  books  are,  in  fact,  ignored  by  our  adversaries ; 
or  if  they  are  known  to  them,  they  inspire  no  con- 
fidence. So  far  are  men  from  coming  to  our  sacred 
books  as  to  an  ultimate  authority,  that  in  order  so 
to  come  they  must  be  already  Christians."* 

Tertullian  seeks  to  find  a  principle,  accepted  alike 
by  his  adversaries  and  by  himself,  in  the  discussion 
upon  which  he  is  entering.  He  rightly  recognises  that 
this  common  basis  is  not  to  be  sought  in  erudition, 
for  a  considerable  time  would  be  necessary  to  free 
universal  truths  from  all  foreign  matters  mixed  up  with 
them  in  the  literature  of  the  various  nations.  He 
also  admits  that  he  cannot  seek  this  common  basis 
in  Scripture,  the  authority  of  which  is  recognised  only 
by  Christians;  where,  then,  is  it  to  be  sought,  except 
in  the  conscience?     According  to  him,  the  spontaneous 

*  "  Imo  nihil,  ornn-ino  relatum  sit,  quod  agnoscat  Christianus,  ne 
exprobrare  possit.  Nam  et  quod  relatum  est,  Deque  omnes  sciunt, 
neque  qui  sciunt  constare  confidunt.  Tanto  abest,  ut  nostris 
litteris  annuant  homines,  adqiias  ?iemovenit,  nisi  jam  Christianus." 
(Tertullian,  "  De  Testim.  Animas,"  i.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.        597 

witness  of  the  human  soul  is  in  favour  of  Christ.  To 
this,  then,  he  appeals,  as  to  a  tribunal,  the  competence 
of  which  is  admitted  by  his  opponents  as  fully  as 
by  himself.  Already,  in  his  Apology,  he  had  given 
expression  to  the  same  thought.  "  Will  you  listen," 
he  says,  "  to  the  witness  of  your  own  soul  ?  Fet- 
tered as  it  is  by  the  bonds  of  the  body,  encom- 
passed as  it  is  with  evil,  enervated  by  passion  and 
lust,  and  enslaved  by  a  false  worship;  if  it  is  once 
aroused  from  its  deep  sleep  of  intoxication,  if  in  the 
midst  of  its  sickness  it  cries  aloud  for  health,  it  at 
once  utters  the  name  of  God,  the  one  inevitable  name  : 
Great  God  !  Good  God  !  If  it  please  God  !  Such  is  the 
language  of  universal  man.  God  is  invoked  as  Judge. 
God  knows,  men  say ;  /  appeal  to  God.  God  shall 
avenge  me.  O,  spontaneous  testimony  of  the  naturally 
Christian  soul!  "*  Tertullian  thus  emphatically  affirms 
that  conscience  leads  to  the  Gospel  revelation,  or 
rather  that  between  the  one  and  the  other  is  found 
the  agreement,  which  ought  to  exist  between  two 
revelations  of  the  same  God.  His  treatise  on  the 
"  Testimony  of  the  Soul "  is  the  working  out  of  this 
great  idea.  Let  us  listen  to  his  own  words.  "  I 
call,"  he  says,  "on  a  new  witness,  one  better  known 
than  any  literature,  more  widely  diffused  than  any 
science,  more  popular  than  any  book,  greater  than 
all  else  in  man  ;  I  call  on  that  which  constitutes 
the  unity  of  human  nature.!  Come,  then,  O  soul, 
whether  with  many  philosophers,  we  acknowledge  thee 
as  divine  and  eternal,  and  therefore  incapable  of  false- 

*  "O  testimonium  animae  naturaliter  Christiana? !"  ("Apologia," 
xvii.) 

t  "  Novum  testimonium  advoco,  imo  omni  litteratura  notius  omni 
doctrina  agitatius,  omni  editione  vulgatius,  toto  homini  majus, 
id  est  totum  quod  est  hominis."     ("  De  Testim.  Animse,"  i ) 


598  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

hood  ;  or  whether,  according  to  the  idea  of  Epicurus 
alone,  thou  hast  not  even  received  immortality  from 
Deity,  and  in  that  case  dost  therefore  deem  thyself  the 
more  bound  to  frankness ;  whether  thou  hast  come 
down  from  heaven,  or  risen  out  of  the  earth,  whether 
numbers  or  atoms  compose  thy  being,  whether  thy 
formation  coincides  with  that  of  the  body  or  follows 
it ;  whatever  be  the  elements  of  thy  nature,  thou  art 
equally  the  seat  of  reason,  of  intelligence,  of  feeling. 
I  summon  thee,  not  as  thou  art,  when  fashioned  by 
the  schools,  polished  in  libraries,  and  breathing  out 
the  wisdom  acquired  in  the  academies  and  porticoes 
of  Athens ;  I  want  thee  in  thy  simple,  rude,  un- 
cultured, ignorant  state,  as  thou  art  in  those  who 
have  added  nothing  to  nature.*  I  go  to  seek  thee 
on  the  public  highway,  or  in  the  workshop ;  I  want 
thine  inexperience,  because  no  one  has  any  longer 
confidence  in  thine  experience,  so  sorry  is  it.  I 
ask  of  thee  only  that  which  thou  dost  originally 
bring  to  man,  only  that  which  thou  hast  learnt  from 
thyself,  or  from  thine  author,  be  he  who  he  may.t 
Thou  art  not  to  my  knowledge,  Christian,  for  no  one 
is  born  a  Christian,  but  must  become  one.  The 
Christians,  however,  appeal  to  thy  testimony,  although 
thou  art  not  of  their  sect ;  thou  shalt  speak  for  us 
against  thine  own  defenders,!  so  that  they  may  be 
ashamed  to  hate  and  ridicule  in  us,  a  doctrine  to 
which  thou  hast  made  them  accessory." 

*  "  Te  simplicem  et  rudem  et  impolitam  et  idioticam  compello, 
qualem  habent  qui  te  solam  habent."     ("  De  Testim.  Animse,"  i.* 

|  "  Ea  expostulo,  quae  tecum  in  hominem  infers,  quae  aut  ex 
temet  ipsa,  aut  ex  quocunque  auctore  tuo  sentire  didicisti."  (Ibid.i 

I  "Non  es,  quod  sciam,  Christiana  ;  fieri  enim  non  nasci  soles 
Christiana.  Tamen  nunc  a  te  testimonium  flagitant  Chnstiani,  ab 
extranea  adversus  tuos."     (Ibid,) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.        599 

Tertullian  establishes,  by  a  noble  train  of  argument, 
the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  but  his  main  point  is 
to  prove  the  divinity  of  the  Founder  of  the  Church. 
On  such  a  subject  it  is  of  supreme  importance  that 
the  truth  be  brought  into  full  light.  To  clear  away 
from  the  sacred  person  of  Christ  all  the  mists  of 
human  prejudice,  and  to  bring  Him  into  direct  contact 
with  the  conscience,  is  the  first  duty  of  the  defender 
of  the  faith.  In  presence  of  the  eternal  and  living 
Word,  confidence  in  the  intrinsic  force  of  the  divine 
is  at  least  as  well  founded  as  when  the  subject  treated 
of  is  the  written  word.  Thus  Tertullian  aims  es- 
pecially to  exalt  the  majesty  of  the  Word,  and  to 
secure  its  recognition,  and  adoration  for  it  even  in  its 
lowest  humiliation.  We  meet  here  and  there  in  the 
Apology  with  some  historical  evidence  adduced,  but 
this,  unfortunately,  is  very  weak,  and  is  founded 
on  legendary  data,  such  as  the  pretended  letter  of 
Pilate  to  Tiberius,*  or  on  facts  which  are  doubtful,* 
such  as  the  mention  in  the  annals  of  the  empire 
of  the  eclipse  which  darkened  the  sun  during  the 
crucifixion. t 

Tertullian  is  more  happy  when  he  establishes,  by 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  the  humiliations  of  Christ, 
which  are  scandal  in  the  Jew's  esteem,  and  folly  to 
the  Greek,  formed  part  of  the  Divine  plan  ;  that  they 
had  been  foretold  by  the  Saviour  Himself,  and  that 
consequently  they  were  an  element  of  His  voluntary 
sacrifice."  The  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  was 
looked  for  not  only  by  the  chosen  people,  but  also  by 
pagan  humanity,  as  is  proved  by  its  myths  and  fables, 

*  "  Apologia,"  xxi.  f   Ibid. 

J  "Praedixerat  et  ipse  ita  facturos.  Parum  hoc,  si  non  et  pro. 
phetas  retro."    (Ibid.) 


600  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

which  show  even  in  their  falsehoods,  the  reflection  of 
the  deathless  hope  of  the  human  heart.* 

After  tracing,  in  common  with  previous  apologists, 
the  moral  effects  of  the  new  religion,  Tertullian  appeals 
to  the  success  of  the  exorcisms.  The  witness  of  the 
demons  is,  according  to  him,  so  much  the  more  worthy 
of  belief,  that  it  is  contrary  to  their  interest  to  give 
it,  since  they  run  the  risk  of  losing  the  sacrifice,  which 
is  dearer  to  them  than  any  other — the  sacrifice  of 
Christian  victims.  We  cannot  but  wonder  to  find  the 
author  of  the  "  Testimony  of  the  Soul  "  giving  weight 
on  this  point  to  an  argument,  which  has  no  better 
basis  than  an  ephemeral  superstition.  Thus  do  the 
noblest  apologies  suffer  from  the  influence  of  the 
prejudices  of  their  day.  The  more  the  defender  of 
Christianity  clings  to  the  great  arguments  derived 
from  the  inner  nature  of  Christianity  itself,  and  from 
the  depths  of  the  moral  being,  the  more  deeply  does 
•lie  impress  on  his  work  the  seal  of  imperishability, 
and  the  more  does  he  raise  it  above  the  fluctuations 
of  human  knowledge,  which  is  ever  limited  and 
variable. 

All  is  not  done  when  the  truth  of  Christianity  is 
established ;  it  has  yet  to  be  shown  that  Christianity 
alone  has  any  true  claim  to  man's  allegiance.  In  this 
department  of  his  subject,  the  apologist  has  to  deal 
with  three  rival  influences  :  paganism,  Judaism,  and 
philosophy.  We  have  already  repeatedly  noticed  with 
what  bitter  sarcasm  Tertullian  speaks  of  the  pagan 
religion,  with  what  utter  scorn  he  treats  its  gods, 
with  what  an  unsparing  hand  he  dashes  to  the  dust 

*  "  Sciebant  et  qui  penes  vos  ejusmodi  fabulas  aemulas  ad  de- 
structionem  veritatis  istiusmodi  praeministraverunt.,,  ("  Apologia," 
xxi.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      6oi 

its  most  venerated  idols.  These  gods,  which  are  no 
gods,  which  were  all  in  the  first  instance  men  like 
ourselves,  have  become  men  worse  than  ourselves,  and 
it  would  not  be  prudent  for  them  to  establish  them- 
selves in  our  cities,  for  they  would  fall  under  the 
condemnation  of  our  most  sacred  laws.  For  the  rest, 
it  is  not  possible  to  despise  them  more  deeply  than 
do  their  own  worshippers,  who  pretend  to  do  them 
honour  by  the  most  infamous  vices,  and  who  expose 
them  in  their  theatres  to  public  derision.  We  need 
only  remind  the  reader  of  those  pages  of  burning 
indignation,  from  which  we  have  already  quoted  at 
some  length,  which  brand,  as  with  a  red-hot  iron,  those 
against  whom  they  are  directed.*  The  impotence  of 
the  pagan  gods  equals  their  vileness ;  they  are  power- 
less either  to  deliver  or  to  punish. 

Judaism,  which  is  far  above  paganism,  may  seem 
a  more  dangerous  rival  to  the  new  religion.  It  has 
the  advantage  of  professing  monotheism,  and  the 
Church  openly  acknowledges  the  authority  of  its  sacred 
books.  But  God,  as  Tertullian  shows,  passed  a  clear 
sentence  of  condemnation  upon  it,  when  He  punished 
and  scattered  the  chosen  people,  and  the  goodly 
heritage  of  the  promises  must  needs  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  a  new  Israel. 

Philosophy,  whether  we  consider  its  influence  upon 
the  life,  or  pass  in  review  its  various  systems,  all 
alike  vague  and  uncertain,  cannot  but  take  much 
lower  ground  than  that  occupied  by  the  religion  of 
Christ.  Tertullian  goes  further  than  this.  He  affirms 
that  philosophy  is  less  reasonable  than  the  Gospel, 
and  that  under  pretence  of  the  freest  exercise  of  the 

*  "  Apologia,"  x.  xviii. 

39 


602  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

intellect,  it  demands  of  it  larger  sacrifices  than  the 
lowly  religion  of  the  Crucified.  In  truth,  philosophy 
has  also  its  mysteries,  which  are  far  more  opposed  to 
reason  than  are  those  of  faith;  all  it  has  done  has 
been  to  mar  and  deform  sacred  truths.  It  is  strange 
that  men  should  have  been  eager  to  accept  in  such 
a  disguised  and  distorted  shape  the  very  ideas  which, 
in  their  purest  form,  they  reject,  when  they  are  ex- 
hibited in  the  full  light  of  Christianity.  When  the 
Gospel  speaks  of  a  judgment  of  God,  men  scoff  at 
the  doctrine ;  but  when  poets  and  philosophers  set 
up  in  the  infernal  regions,  a  tribunal  before  which 
all  of  human  race  are  to  appear,  they  are  listened 
to  with  respect.  The  everlasting  burnings  with  which 
the  Gospel  threatens  impenitent  sinners,  are  heard  of 
with  shouts  of  derisive  laughter;  but  the  fable  which 
tells  of  a  river  of  fire  flowing  through  the  abode  of 
the  dead,  meets  with  nothing  but  approbation.  The 
paradise  of  the  Christians  is  a  byword  of  contempt  ; 
but  the  Elysian  fields  are  a  universally  accepted 
vision  of  delight.* 

If  these  great  truths,  which  have  the  concurrent  wit- 
ness both  of  philosophy  and  religion,  are  not  generally 
admitted,  die  cause  is  in  the  perversity  of  the  human 
heart,  which  Tertullian  well  characterises  as  "  the 
indurating  effect  of  a  wilful  error,  which  has  blunted 
the  fine  sense  of  the  conscience."  t  The  one  thing  which 
the  apologist  asks  of  the  adversary  to  Christianity  is, 
that  he  will  purify  himself;  for  the  corruption  of  thought 
and  life  once  earnestly  renounced,  he  will  have  the 
pure  heart  which  sees  God  ;  he  will  recognise  God  in 

*  "  Apologia,"  xlvii. 

|  "Teneritas  conscientiae  obduratur  in  callositatem  voluntarii 
erroris."     ("Ad  Nationes,"  II.  I.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.        603 

the  very  religion  which  he  has  held  accursed,  and  from 
a  persecutor  will  become  a  Christian.  When  he  comes 
truly  to  know  the  much  reviled  religion,  he  will  no 
more  revile,  but  will  himself  gladly  embrace  it.*  How 
should  it  be  otherwise,  since  the  human  soul  is  natu- 
rally Christian  ?  Let  it  be  freed  from  the  corrupting 
influence  of  sin,  let  the  human  interpolation  be  erased 
from  this  divine  text,  and  the  soul's  testimony  will 
be  given  in  favour  of  Christianity.  The  spectacle  of 
the  Christians  dying  at  the  stake  and  in  the  circus, 
is  indeed  sufficient  to  show  that  they  have  on  their 
side  God  and  the  truth.  We  have  already  observed 
what  grand  expression  Tertullian  gives  to  this  idea. 
His  defence  of  Christianity  concludes  with  that  tri- 
umphal hymn  of  martyrdom  which  we  have  quoted, 
and  which  was  a  more  convincing  evidence  than  any 
reasoning  in  those  days  of  scepticism  and  moral  ener- 
vation, on  which  side  was  the  power  that  must  ulti- 
mately triumph. 

After  this  outline  of  the  Apology  of  the  great  African 
teacher,  we  can  form  a  fair  estimate  both  of  its  merits 
and  defects.  It  presents  to  us  a  very  remarkable  chain 
of  thought.  Its  main  arguments  sustain  and  strengthen 
one  another.  They  cannot  be  accused  of  nullifying  or 
destroying  each  other,  as  is  too  often  the  case  when 
the  apologist  is  more  bent  on  accumulating  proofs 
than  on  weighing  them,  Tertullian  commenced  by 
producing  the  immortal  letter  of  credit  of  Christianity 
— Conscience,  and  he  freed  its  testimony  from  all  that 
impaired  or  obscured  it.  This  universally  acknow- 
ledged witness  was  the  first  he  invoked,  and  only  after 

*  "  Emendate  vosmet  ipsos  prius,  ut  Christianos  puniatis  ;  nisi 
quod  emendaveritis,  non  punietis,  imo  eritis  Christiani.  Uiscite 
quod  in  nobis  accusetis,  et  non  accusabitis."    {"  Ad  Nationes,"  1. 19.) 


604  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

its  testimony  had  been  heard,  did  he  appeal  to  Scrip- 
ture. His  great  merit  lay  in  the  admirable  combina- 
tion of  Scriptural  with  moral  evidence.  From  the 
former  he  sought  only  that  which  it  can  legitimately 
give  in  controversy  with  an  unbeliever,  namely,  the 
direct  and  irresistible  impression  of  the  divine,  result- 
ing from  the  beauty  and  majesty  of  the  sacred  book. 
He  carefully  avoided  appealing  to  the  Scriptures  as  an 
established  authority,  cutting  short  all  discussion, 
before  conviction  had  been  reached.  That  which  he 
sought  more  than  all  else  in  the  written  word,  was  the 
living  Word,  the  person  of  Christ  Himself,  and  his 
great  aim  was  to  set  the  ideal  Christ  in  full  relief, 
though  it  must  be  confessed  he  failed  to  give  due 
prominence  to  His  character  of  mercy,  and  we  miss 
that  soft  halo  of  love  which  is  the  most  powerful 
attraction  of  the  Saviour.  The  moral  effects  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  its  power  to  reform  the  life,  furnished 
Tertullian  with  a  fourth  argument,  on  which  he  justly 
laid  much  stress.  The  courage  of  the  apostles  and 
confessors  affixes,  in  his  judgment,  the  ineffaceable  seal 
of  blood  to  the  doctrine  they  taught. 

The  feeblest  part  of  the  Apology  is  that  which  deals 
with  the  external  evidence,  for  instead  of  leaning  for 
support  upon  the  true  and  glorious  miracles  of  the 
Gospel,  and  upon  the  grand  testimony  of  history,  Ter- 
tullian has  recourse  to  apocryphal  prodigies,  and  to  the 
confessions  of  poor  maniacs,  who  supposed  themselves 
to  be  possessed  with  demons.  But  he  appears  again  in 
all  the  strength  of  his  vehement  dialectics,  and  with 
all  the  fire  of  his  eloquence,  when  he  casts  at  the  feet 
of  Christ  all  the  religious  and  philosophic  systems 
of  the  past.  It  is  only  candid,  however,  to  admit 
that  here  he  displays  also  his  intolerance,  his  bitter 


BOOK   III. — THE   DEFENCE   OF  CHRISTIANITY.      605 

sarcasm,  and  that  contempt  for  all  high  culture,  which 
deprives  him  of  some  of  the  most  valuable  arguments 
to  be  derived  from  the  history  of  civilisation,  and  finally 
that  intensity  of  passion  which  constitutes  at  once  his 
weakness  and  his  strength. 

Among  those  who  followed  in  the  track  of  Tertullian, 
may  be  mentioned  the  poet  Commodian,  who  is  a 
severe  satirist  of  all  pagan  culture ;  and  Cyprian,  who, 
attaching  supreme  importance  to  external  authority, 
reproduces  in  a  feebler  form  the  principal  argument  of 
his  illustrious  master,  as  may  be  seen  from  his  tract 
addressed  to  Donatus. 


§  IV.  Third  School  of  Apologists  of  the  Primitive  Church. 
The  Apology  of  Amobius. 

The  third  school  of  Christian  apologists  cannot  be 
accused  of  having  servilely  followed  in  a  beaten 
track ;  for  they  opened  out  an  entirely  new  course,  and 
effected  a  real  revolution.  The  method  pursued  by 
this  school  is  directly  opposed  to  that  of  Origen  and 
Tertullian.  This  will  be  evident  from  a  statement  of 
the  principles  from  which  they  start,  which  are  fully 
developed  in  the  treatise  of  Arnobius  against  the 
pagans. 

In  this,  as  in  every  apologetic  work,  we  find  two 
distinct  portions,  the  one  devoted  to  positive  contro- 
versy, and  the  other  to  the  demonstration  of  the 
truth.  Arnobius'  argument  is  distinguished  only  by  its 
violence  ;  its  principal  merit  is  that  it  brings  to  the 
light  the  hidden  vileness  of  paganism,  and  supports  its 
allegations  with  much  fulness  of  detail.  Even  this  merit 
becomes   a  fault  by  its  exaggeration,  for  the  pictures 


606  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

which  Arnobius  draws  are  often  so  wanting  in  delicacy 
and  purity,  as  to  offend  the  sense  of  modesty.  His 
style  has  neither  the  eloquent  breadth  of  Cyprian,  nor 
the  powerful  and  telling  conciseness  of  Tertullian. 
Arnobius  directs  his  attacks  rather  against  paganism  in 
its  grossest  form  :  his  mode  of  controversy  is  therefore 
iow  and  vulgar ;  he  returns  insult  for  insult,  and  does  not 
dignify,  either  by  eloquent  indignation  or  biting  irony, 
arguments  which  are  only  too  well  adapted  to  the  base 
souls  whom  he  is  addressing.  He  displays  more  modera- 
tion in  his  defence  of  Christianity,  all  his  vehemence 
being  reserved  for  the  attack  upon  his  adversaries.  To 
those  who  assert  that  the  new  religion  has  brought  a  thou- 
sand evils  upon  the  world,  he  replies,  with  justice,  that 
there  has  been  no  change  in  the  aspect  of  terrestrial 
things  since  the  appearance  of  Christianity.  The  scourges 
with  which  the  world  is  visited  now,  are  the  same  that 
were  common  prior  to  the  Christian  era.*  It  would 
be,  furthermore,  an  insult  to  the  ancient  divinities 
to  ascribe  to  them  a  wrath  so  cruel  against  a  rival 
worship. t  The  pagans  have  no  ground  for  reproaching 
Christians  with  serving  a  crucified  Master,  unless  they 
are  prepared  to  admit  that  Platonism  was  dishonoured 
by  the  death  of  Socrates.  A  heroic  death  does  honour 
to  the  cause  for  which  it  is  endured.  Paganism  itself 
holds  in  higher  veneration  a  god  who  has  been  slain, 
as,  for  instance,  Esculapius  and  Hercules. X  The 
hatred  of  the  pagans  to  Jesus  Christ  is  so  much 
the  less  to  be  understood  that  they  can  tolerate  all 
the  false  gods  and  all  the  philosophers,  while  Christ 
alone  has  conferred  upon  mankind  benefits  innumer- 
able.§     It   is   idle   to    reproach    Christianity   with  its 

*  Arnobius,  "Adv.  Gentes,"  I.  I,  6.  t  Ibid.,  I.  17,  24. 

I  Ibid.,  I.  40,  41.  §  Ibid.,  I.  63. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.      607 

novelty ;  the  religion  of  those  who  bring  such  an  accu- 
sation is  but  of  recent  date,  as  they  themselves  admit 
in  the  books  in  which  they  record  the  birth  of  their 
gods.* 

From  <he  defensive,  Arnobius  passes  to  the  offensive. 
The  last  five  books  of  his  treatise  are  devoted  to  a 
virulent  controversy  with  paganism,  in  which,  however, 
we  can  discover  no  novel  arguments.  The  originality 
of  the  method  of  Arnobius  consists  in  this,  that  he 
labours  earnestly  to  degrade  human  nature,  and  to  set 
aside  the  idea  of  any  normal  relationship  between  it 
and  God.  He  admits,  indeed,  that  the  notion  of  one 
Supreme  Being  is  universal.  "  Where  is  the  man,"  he 
says,  "  who  has  not  had  this  idea  from  the  very  dawn  of 
his  existence  ?  Where  is  the  man  in  whom  this  belief 
in  the  sovereign  Ruler  of  the  universe,  who  orders  it  by 
His  providence,  has  not  been  deeply  and  ineffaceably 
graven  ?  Who  has  not  brought  it  with  him,  as  it 
were,  out  of  his  mother's  womb  ?"t  He  discovers  in 
the  writings  of  the  philosophers  traces  of  the  truths 
taught  by  Christianity,  but  he  is  careful  to  guard 
against  the  supposition  that  these  notions  are  a  direct 
communication  of  the  Word  to  the  soul,  an  emanation 
from  that  uncreated  light  which  lightens  every  man 
who  comes  into  the  world.  The  idea  of  God,  Arno- 
bius does  not,  in  fact,  regard  as  the  prerogative  of 
man  ;  he  believes  it  to  be  equally  present  in  insensate 
nature  and  in  the  lower  animals.  "  If  the  dumb 
animals,"  he  says,  "could  make  themselves  under- 
stood, if  they  could  speak  our  language ;  still  more,  if 
trees,  earth,  and  stones,  were,  by  a  sudden  access   of 

*  Arnobius,  "Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  66,  70. 

t  "  Cui  non  sit  ingenitum,  non  affixum  ....  esse  regem  ac 
dominum  cunctorum  quaecumque  sunt  moderatorem."  (Ibid.  I.  33.) 


608  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

vital  breath,  to  become  capable  of  forming  sounds  and 
uttering  articulate  words,  should  we  not  hear  them,  in 
the  simple  and  incorruptible  faith  which  nature  instils 
into  all  created  things,  loudly  proclaim  that  there  is  but 
one  God,  the  King  of  the  universe  ?"*  It  is  impossible 
to  misunderstand  this  language  ;  the  idea  of  God  enter- 
tained by  man,  is  only  an  impression  left  by  the  hand  of 
the  Creator  in  the  clay  He  has  moulded ;  it  is  present 
as  much  in  the  lower  creation  as  in  man.  On  the 
book  of  the  human  heart  have  been  traced  the  same 
characters  as  on  the  book  of  nature.  If  man  possesses 
the  idea  of  God,  it  is  not  that  he  has  any  inherent 
sense  of  the  divine.  Instead  of  recognising  in  it  the 
utterance  of  conscience,  we  must  regard  it  as  an  idea 
imparted  from  without ;  from  above,  it  is  true,  but  still 
imparted  in  a  manner  wholly  external,  and  never  enter- 
ing into  the  moral  constitution  of  the  man  ;  it  is 
common  to  all  creatures.  We  must  not,  therefore, 
allow  ourselves  to  be  misled  by  isolated  expressions, 
which  give  back  a  faint  reflection  of  the  nobler  concep- 
tions of  a  previous  period.  Nor  must  the  following 
fine  invocation,  in  which  Arnobius  celebrates  the  God 
whom  the  whole  universe  proclaims,  mislead  us  as  to 
his  true  idea.  "  O  great  God,"  he  exclaims,  "  Creator 
of  things  not  seen,  Thyself  invisible  and  past  finding  out, 
Thou  art  worthy  to  receive  the  unceasing  homage  of  all 
that  breathes  and  thinks,  if  any  mortal  mouth  may  be 
found  worthy  to  pronounce  Thy  name.  It  is  meet  that  all 
that  lives  should  bow  before  Thee,  and  lift  up  perpetual 
prayer  to  Thee.  Thou  art,  in  truth,  the  great  first 
Cause  ;  Thou  hast  stretched  out  the  space  in  which  all 

*  "  Ita  non  duce  natura  et  magistra  et  intelligerent  esse  Deum 
et  cunctorum  dominum  solum  esse  clamarent ? "  ("Adv.  Gentes," 
I.  33) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.       609 

things  are  contained ;  Thou  art  the  Cause  of  causes  ; 
Thou  art  the  infinite  uncreated  Being,  without  begin- 
ning and  without  end  ;  Thou  art  the  only  One,  who 
dwelleth  in  no  corporeal  form,  unbounded  by  time  or 
space,  who  art  above  all  quality  or  quantity,  who  dost 
neither  rest  nor  move,  nor  dost  pass  through  any 
change  whatever,  who  canst  not  be  expressed  by  mortal 
tongue.  The  man  who  has  learnt  to  comprehend 
aught  of  Thee  should  keep  silence,*  and  if  in  his  roving 
search  he  has  discerned  but  a  faint  shadow  of  Thy 
glory,  it  is  not  lawful  for  him  to  utter  it.  Pardon,  O 
Thou  King  Supreme,  those  who  persecute  Thy  ser- 
vants; and,  as  becomes  Thy  mercy,  have  pity  on  the 
unhappy  ones  who  reject  Thy  name  and  Thy  religion. 
It  is  not  strange  that  men  should  be  ignorant  of  Thee ; 
it  would  be  stranger,  indeed,  did  they  know  Thee."  X 
This  passage  deserves  to  be  quoted,  not  only  on  account 
of  its  great  beauty,  but  also  because,  in  spite  of  some 
appearances  to  the  contrary,  it  is  entirely  in  harmony 
with  the  system  of  Arnobius.  The  most  striking  fea- 
ture of  the  invocation  is  the  care  taken  by  the  writer  to 
exalt  only  those  divine  attributes  which  are  incom- 
municable, to  mark  the  deep  gulf  between  man  and  the 
Creator,  and  to  place  the  Deity  at  such  a  distance  from 
us,  that  there  should  be  no  natural  communication 
between  us  and  Him.  We  must  observe  that  the 
separation  thus  dwelt  upon,  is  not  that  between  the 
fallen  creature  and  the  Most  Holy.  No  ;  in  this  passage 
Arnobius  distinctly  affirms  that  God  is  in  His  essence 
incomprehensible,  which  implies  that  we  could  not 
originally  have  received  any  communication  from  this 

*  "  Qui  ut  intelligaris,  tacendum  est."     ("  Adv.  Gentcs,"  I.  31.) 
t  "  Non    est  mirum   si  ignbraris  ;   majoris    est  admirationis,  si 
sciaris"     (Ibid.) 


6lO  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

pure  essence.  On  this  point,  indeed,  he  expresses  his 
thought  with  all  possible  clearness  in  the  second  book. 
There,  in  presence  of  that  God  who  seems  as  far 
removed  from  us  as  the  God  of  Neo-Platonism,  who  is 
lost  above  the  grasp  of  the  creature  and  of  thought  in 
the  void  of  His  dead  unity,  he  represents  man  as 
grovelling  by  nature  in  the  dust  of  the  earth,  like  the 
lowest  of  the  creatures.  The  God  of  Arnobius  is  too 
far  away,  and  man,  as  he  regards  him,  is  too  low. 
This  will  appear  from  the  analysis  we  are  about  to 
give  of  this  leading  portion  of  his  Apology.  We  shall 
see  him,  in  his  blind  desire  to  rob  man  of  all  native 
canity,  falling  into  the  most  serious  errors,  and  raising, 
by  his  replies,  objections  far  more  weighty  than  those 
which  he  endeavours  to  remove. 

Pride  is  assuredly  a  great  obstacle  to  man's  restora- 
tion, and  we  are  ready  to  admit  that  the  first  duty 
of  the  apologist  may  be  to  apply  to  mankind  those 
striking  words  from  the  Book  of  the  Revelation:  "  Thou 
sayest,  I  am  rich,  and  increased  in  goods,  and  have 
need  of  nothing;  and  knowest  not  that  thou  art 
wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and 
naked."*  It  is  perfectly  legitimate  to  dwell  upon  our 
present  wretched  condition,  and  to  cast  an  unsparing 
light  upon  our  faults  and  our  frailties,  provided  only  it 
be  shown  at  the  same  time  that  these  rags  are  but 
the  soiled  and  tattered  fragments  of  a  royal  mantle.  In 
other  words,  the  apologist  ought  to  adduce  evidence 
of  the  Fall,  but  not  to  cease  to  regard  it  as  a  Fall, 
that  is,  as  a  descent  from  primeval  greatness,  and 
the  loss  of  a  native  nobility,  of  which  the  divine 
traces  are  still  discernible.  His  task,  then,  is  twofold  ; 
he  is  bound  to  insist  no  less  upon  our  first  estate 
*  Revelation  iii.  17. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.        Gil 

of  glory  and  felicity  than  upon  our  present  miserable 
condition.  The  contrast  between  the  past  and  the 
present  will  be  so  much  the  more  impressive,  when 
man  is  made  fully  conscious  of  his  high  origin.  On 
the  other  hand,  nothing  is  more  opposed  to  the  true 
purpose  of  a  reasonable  apology,  than  the  degradation 
of  human  nature  in  itself,  and  the  denial  to  man  of 
any  native  greatness.  Such  a  doctrine  quenches  in 
the  soul  every  spark  of  repentance  or  high  desire ; 
it  sinks  it  deeper  in  the  slough  into  which  it  has 
fallen  ;  it  dooms  man  to  inhale  as  his  native  air  the 
impure  atmosphere  which  is  stifling  his  true  life.  By 
reflecting  back  on  to  primeval  man  the  misery  of  man 
in  his  fallen  state,  the  whole  economy  of  the  Christian 
religion  is  subverted,  and  its  defence  becomes  impos- 
sible. Arnobius  fell  perpetually  into  this  capital  error. 
We  should  have  had  no  ground  for  adverse  criticism, 
if  he  had  confined  himself  to  protesting  against  the 
frivolous  optimism  which  imagines  that  all  is  for  the 
best  in  this  world,  as  he  does  in  these  eloquent  words : 
"  If  we  should  pretend,  like  some  philosophers,  that  evil 
has  no  existence,  every  nation  and  every  fraction  of 
humanity  would  cry  out  against  us,  while  they  pointed 
to  their  wounds  and  to  the  innumerable  evils  which 
perpetually  grieve  and  distress  humanity."-  But 
Arnobius  is  not  satisfied  with  dispelling  these  wild 
illusions ;  he  ridicules  without  mercy  those  who  assert 
that  the  soul  is  by  its  nature  immortal,  that  it  is 
of  royal  and  divine  race,  and  by  its  original  dignity 
stands  in  close  relation  to  the  Most  High.  He  is 
not  satisfied  until  he  has  endeavoured  to  show  that 
man  has  been  placed  by  God  at  the  very  foot  01  the 

::'-  "  Reclamabunt  cunctae  gentes,  universaeque  nationcs,  cruciatus 
nobis  ostentantes  siios."     ("Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  54.) 


6l2  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

scale  of  being.*  He  even  goes  so  far  as  to  deny 
the  spiritual  essence  of  the  soul.  It  is  strange  to 
see  the  Christian  apologist  thus  taking  his  stand  on 
the  ground  of  the  lowest  materialism,  with  a  view 
to  reach  such  degrading  conclusions.  One  might  be 
ready  to  ask,  where  has  the  spiritual  portion  of  our  being- 
hidden  itself,  since  the  dissecting  knife  has  failed  to 
discover  in  the  human  body  anything  but  molecules. 
We  find  in  Arnobius'  book  the  parallel  so  often  traced 
by  the  materialistic  school,  between  our  organism  and 
that  of  the  lower  animals. t  Wherein  do  we  differ 
from  them  ?  Our  bones  are  composed  of  the  same 
materials  ;  our  origin  is  not  more  noble  than  theirs. 
Arnobius  does  not  let  slip  this  opportunity  to  speak 
offensively  of  the  sacred  mysteries  of  birth.  He  asks 
if  the  great  concern  of  man,  as  of  his  brethren  the 
animals,  is  not  to  appease  his  hunger,  and  to  protect 
his  body ;  J  and  whether  he  does  not,  like  them,  suffer 
from  a  thousand  ills,  and  finally  mingle  his  ashes  with 
the  dust  of  the  earth  ?  Arnobius  forgets  those  count- 
less religions  of  polytheism,  of  which  he  elsewhere 
so  bitterly  complains,  and  against  which  especially  his 
book  is  directed.  Whatever  may  be  their  folly  or 
their  impurity,  they  at  least  remind  us  that  man  lives 
not  by  bread  alone. 

Is  it  pleaded,  he  asks,  that  man's  superiority  lies  in 
intellect  and  reason  ?  But  if  this  were  the  case,  then  man- 
kind universally  would  show  itself  reasonable,  temperate, 
and  wise  ;  and  by  such  signs  alone  could  its  superiority 

*  "Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  15. 

f  "  Quid  est  enim,  quod  nos  ab  eorum  indicet  similitudine  dis- 
crepare  ?  Vel  quae  in  nobis  eminentia  tanta  est,  ut  animantium 
numero  dedignemur  adscribi  ?"     (Ibid.,  II.  16.) 

I  "  Quid  aliud  nos  tantis  agimus  in  occupationibus  vitae,  nisi  ut 
ea  quaeramus,  quibus  famis  periculum  devitetur."     (Ibid.,  II.  17.) 


BOOK   III. — THE   DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      613 

be  manifested,  for  man  is  less  skilful  in  procuring  his 
supplies  of  food  than  many  animals.  If  nature  had 
given  flexible  hands  to  them  as  to  us,  they  would 
certainly  have  surpassed  us.  The  arts  are,  after  all, 
not  so  much  heavenly  gifts  as  the  results  of  our 
poverty;  the  spur  of  necessity  was  required  to  urge 
us  on  to  all  those  fine  inventions  on  which  we  so 
much  pride  ourselves.  "  If  the  soul  possessed  any 
knowledge  worthy  of  a  divine  and  deathless  being, 
that  knowledge  would  have  been  originally  the  common 
lot  of  all  men.*  But  we  find,  on  the  contrary,  that 
it  is  only  groping  their  wray  along  the  path  of  slow 
progression,  that  men  achieve  the  conquest  of  nature. 
The  case  is  the  same  with  art  as  with  industry.  If 
art  were  of  divine  origin,  it  would  have  been  always 
and  universally  diffused  throughout  the  earth,  and  we 
should  not  have  seen  artistic  aptitude  in  its  various 
forms  so  unequally  distributed."  We  are  really  con- 
founded by  the  absurdity  of  such  an  argument.  Arno- 
bius  takes  that  to  be  a.  sign  of  inferiority  which  is 
the  very  seal  of  intellectual  superiority.  It  is  precisely 
because  man  is  more  than  an  animal,  that  he  is  born 
into  the  world  the  weakest  and  most  helpless  oi  crea- 
tures, but  endowed  at  the  same  time  with  the  infinite 
resources  of  reason,  and  designed  to  develop  his  own 
latent  powers  by  their  free  exercise.  Reason  is  not 
like  instinct,  which  is  identical  in  all  the  myriads  of 
the  same  species ;  it  is  progressive,  inventive,  and 
consequently  more  or  less  developed  according  to  the 
individual  constitution  and  circumstances.  We  must 
go  to  the  bee-hive  or  to  a  colony  of  beavers  to  find  art  and 

*  "  Quod  si  habercnt  scientias  animae,  quas  genus  ct  habere 
divinum  atque  immortale  condignum  est,  ab  initio  homines  cuncti 
omnia  scirent."     ("Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  18.) 


614  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

industry  heaven-descended  ;  it  is  man's  prerogative  to 
fashion  the  instruments  of  his  own  progress,  and  to 
develop  the  resources  of  the  world  in  developing  his  own. 
Everyone  is  familiar  with  the  sublime  simile  of  the 
cave  in  Plato's  "  Republic."  Plunged  into  darkness, 
his  limbs  loaded  with  fetters,  the  miserable  captive, 
who  represents  man  in  his  actual  condition,  sees 
nothing  but  the  dim  and  reversed  image  upon  the 
wall  of  his  prison,  of  objects  he  had  been  wont  to 
behold  in  the  clear  light  in  which  he  had  celebrated 
the  sacred  mysteries  of  the  gods.  Arnobius  takes  up 
this  figure,  but  only  to  parody  it  egregiously.  He  also 
supposes  a  man  shut  up  in  a  cave  from  his  infancy,  fed 
by  a  dumb  nurse,  and  always  finding  ready  to  his  hand 
all  that  he  needed  for  the  supply  of  his  wants.  Such 
a  man  would  have  no  recollection  of  the  glorious  abode 
in  which  he  may  have  been  born  ;  he  would  have  no 
knowledge,  and  would  be  at  a  loss  how  to  use  his 
heavy  limbs  ;  he  would  be  the  most  unintelligent  of 
all  created  animals.  Question  him  about  himself, 
about  the  Author  of  his  being,  he  would  be  more 
stupid  than  the  beast  of  the  field,  more  mute  than 
stock  or  stone.*  Arnobius  draws  the  conclusion  that 
all  man's  moral  and  intellectual  wealth  comes  to 
him  from  without,  not  from  within,  and  that  it  is 
through  the  senses  that  ideas  reach  him.  The  soul  is 
originally  a  blank  page,  and  all  that  it  ultimately  con- 
tains is  inscribed  on  it  by  the  outer  world.  The  bark 
of  the  wild  forest  tree  is  not  a  more  rough,  unculti- 
vated thing  than  is  the  human  mind  in  its  original 
condition.  It  is  not  man  who,  by  his  fruitful  activity, 
renews  the  face  of  the  world,  it  is  the  world  that  makes 

*  "  Ita  ille  non  omni  pecore,  ligno,  saxo  obtusior  at  que  hebetior 
stabit  ?  "     ("  Adv.  Gentes,"  1 1 .  22.) 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.        615 

man  what  he  is.  There  is  no  living  animal  that  is  not 
by  nature  more  richly  endowed  than  man,  for  every 
animal  brings  with  it  into  the  world  at  least  instinct 
as  an  infallible  guide.  "  Behold,  O  men,"  Arnobius 
triumphantly  exclaims,  "  behold  this  soul  which  you 
assert  is  inherently  wise,  immortal,  perfect,  divine  !  * 
Behold  this  august  being — man,  endowed  with  reason, 
this  model  for  the  world, — behold  him  lower  than  the 
brute,  more  stupid  than  stock  and  stone  !  No  doubt, 
when  he  has  passed  through  the  schools  and  received 
the  instruction  of  the  learned,  he  will  become  intelli- 
gent, well-informed,  and  will  rise  out  of  this  gross 
ignorance.  But  do  not  the  ox  and  the  ass,  by  habit, 
and  under  the  stimulus  of  necessity,  learn  to  till  the 
land  and  to  grind  the  corn  ?  Cease,  then,  to  compare 
vile  things  with  precious.  Cease  to  place  in  the  first 
rank  and  in  the  highest  class  of  beings,  the  miserable 
creature — man. t  He  is  a  mendicant,  destined  to  live  in 
obscurity,  and  in  the  hut  of  the  indigent,  and  not  for 
the  splendour  of  a  life  of  nobility." 

What,  then,  did  the  apostle  mean  when  he  said  that 
we  are  God's  offspring  ?  The  detractor  of  humanity 
does  not  content  himself  with  taking  from  man's  head 
the  crown  of  immortality,  he  will  not  even  admit  that  he 
has  an  important  part  to  perform  in  the  lower  world,  to 
which  his  ignoble  origin  is  traced.  He  asks,  ironically, 
what  the  earth  would  lose  if  it  were  deprived  of  the 
presence  of  that  arrogant  being  who  calls  himself  its 
king  and  benefactor  ?  What  change  would  there  be  in 
the  earth  if  man  had   no    existence  ?  J     The    seasons 

*  "  Hasc  est  anima  docta  ilia,  quam  dicitis,  immortalis,  pcrfecta, 
divina."     ("  Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  25.) 

t  "Proletarius  cum  sit."     (Ibid.,  II.  29.) 

I  "  Quid  ergo  ?  Si  homines  non  sint,  ab  oniciis  suis  cessabit 
mundus?"     (Ibid.,  II.  37.) 


6l6  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

would  still  succeed  each  other,  the  rain  would  come 
down  to  fertilise,  the  sun  would  shine  to  ripen.  Man 
thinks  only  of  himself,  and  gives  himself  no  concern 
for  the  good  of  the  world  he  inhabits.  "  Of  what 
benefit  is  it  to  the  world,"  asks  Arnobius,  "  to  have 
mighty  kings,  tyrants,  sovereigns,  and  I  know  not 
what  titled  dignities  ?  Of  what  avail  to  it  are  generals 
skilful  in  sieges,  and  soldiers  invincible  in  fight, 
whether  of  infantry  or  cavalry  ?  What  does  it  gain 
by  orators,  governors,  poets,  writers,  philosophers, 
musicians,  jesters,  actors?"*  Arnobius  passes  in 
review  all  the  arts  of  civilisation,  and  arrives  at  the 
same  conclusion  with  regard  to  all.  The  sonorous  ring 
of  his  oratory  cannot  conceal  the  absurdity  of  his 
reasoning,  for  if  it  is  certain  that  the  representation  of 
a  noble  tragedy  or  the  eloquence  of  a  sublime  dis- 
course, will  not  make  one  grain  of  corn  the  more,  it  is 
no  less  certain  that  the  high  state  of  civilisation  of 
which  the  liberal  arts  are  an  evidence,  will  give  a 
general  impulse  to  human  activity,  and  this  impulse 
will  manifest  itself  in  the  higher  cultivation  of  the 
soil,  as  surely  as  in  the  higher  development  of  thought. 
Beside,  what  is  the  terrestrial  creation  without  man 
but  an  incoherent  phrase,  unfinished  and  meaningless  ? 
What  is  the  temple  without  the  priest,  or  the  priest 
without  the  God  ?  Arnobius  does  not  see  that  the 
whole  creation  thus  stands  in  logical  connection ;  he 
ignores  the  fact  that  the  earth  would  not  be  fruitful  if 
the  soul  of  man  bore  no  fruit,  and  that  the  soul  can  be 
fruitful  only  if  it  is  of  divine  origin.  According  to  his  re- 
presentation, not  only  is  humanity  of  no  use  to  the  world, 
but  it  dishonours  the  world  by  its  manifold  crimes. 
The  author  details  them  complacently ;  he  paints  the 
*  "  Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  39-43. 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.      OI7 

picture  in  the  darkest  colours,  and  shrinks  from  no 
delineation,  however  hideous.  He  becomes  really  im- 
modest in  describing  the  shameless  sensual  excesses  of 
the  age.  This  passage,  in  which  the  tricks  of  bad 
rhetoric  are  blended  with  the  obscenities  of  impure 
literature,  concludes  with  these  words :  "  What  say 
you  to  all  this,  oh  glorious  race,  daughter  of  the  Most 
High  ?  Such  are  these  souls,  endowed  with  wisdom, 
which  ascribe  their  origin  to  the  great  First  Cause,  such 
are  they,  wise  only  in  every  sort  of  malice,  crime,  and 
infamy !  Doubtless  it  was  to  carry  out  boldly  and 
boastingly  their  wicked  practices,  that  they  were  sent 
into  this  portion  of  the  universe  in  bodily  form.  What 
mortal,  with  the  use  of  reason,  can  still  hesitate  to 
believe  that  this  world  was  prepared  expressly  for  his 
race,  or,  rather,  that  it  has  been  prepared  to  be  the 
theatre  where  such  crimes  might  be  daily  perpe- 
trated?"* 

Arnobius  thus  persistently  confounds  the  melancholy 
condition  which  is  the  result  of  the  Fall,  with  the 
normal  state  of  man,  and  from  our  actual  degradation 
infers  the  baseness  of  our  origin.  Even  this  degrada- 
tion is  not  so  absolute  as  by  him  represented.  The 
history  of  mankind  would  be  less  complicated  than  it 
is,  if  the  power  of  evil  reigned  unopposed,  and  we 
should  have,  instead  of  conflict  between  good  and  its 
opposite,  only  the  continuous  and  unvarying  develop- 
ment of  sin. 

This  miserable  being — man — has  his  moments  of 
greatness,  when  gleams  of  the  divine  flash  through  the 
darkness  01  his  night.  There  have  been  men  who, 
without  being  perfect,  have  done  honour  to  their  race 
by  their  wisdom  and  uprightness.  But  such  exceptions 
*  "Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  39-43. 
40 


6l8  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

cause  no  embarrassment  to  Arnobius.  He  replies  that 
these  men  constitute  an  insignificant  minority,  and  that 
the  human  race  is  not  to  be  judged  by  this  minority, 
but  by  the  moral  condition  of  the  masses.  "  In  truth, 
the  part  is  comprised  in  the  whole,  not  the  whole  in  the 
part.*  Would  any  one  say  that  the  earth  is  of  gold, 
because  in  certain  places  veins  of  the  precious  metal 
have  been  found  ?  Beside,  even  these  select  individuals 
are  constrained  to  do  incessant  battle  with  their  evil 
inclinations,  which  is  a  sufficient  indication  that  the 
human  nature  which  they  share  is  in  itself  evil.t 
Arnobius  would  be  certainly  justified  in  concluding 
from  these  unquestionable  facts  that  humanity  is  not 
in  its  normal  condition,  and  that  it  is  suffering  from  a 
deep-seated  and  universal  disease  ;  but  he  offers  no 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  man  is  still  conscious  of 
mighty  impulses  towards  good.  The  presence  of  this 
moral  contradiction  ought  to  have  shown  him  that 
those  who,  like  Plato,  speak  of  a  glorious  past,  and  of 
an  origin  of  which  the  imperishable  memory  lingers 
with  us,  are  not  deserving  of  utter  ridicule  ;  it  ought  to 
have  convinced  him  that  this  abject  being  was  of  a 
noble  race,  and  that  however  much  he  may  call  for 
pity,  scorn  is  misplaced. 

Arnobius  has  completed  his  demonstration.  He 
has  buried,  as  it  were,  the  worm  of  the  earth  in  the 
dust  from  which  he  sprang ;  he  has  endeavoured  to 
prove  that  man  is  in  nothing  superior  to  the  beasts, 
that  his  soul  is  not  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and 
that  it  has  no  more  inherent  claim  to  immortality  than 
the  brute  that  crops  the  grass  of  the  field.  For  one 
moment  he  shrinks  in  alarm  from  the  results  of  his  own 

*  "In  toto  enim  est,  non  totum  in  parte."  ("Adv.  Gentes," 
II-  49)  t  Ibid.,  II.  50. 


BOOK   III.— THE   DEFENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.      619 

He  hears  the  applause  of  the  disciples  of 
Epicurus,  whose  cause  he  has  in  reality  been  uphold- 
ing. "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,"  they  say,  "  for  to-morrow 
we  die."  He  recoils  from  such  a  conclusion,  though  it 
is  the  fair  sequence  of  his  own  principles,  because  he 
intends,  after  all,  to  defend  Christianity.  He  goes  on, 
therefore,  to  affirm  that  while  the  soul  is  not  by  its 
nature  immortal,  it  may  become  so,  and  that  God  has 
sent  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  to  impart  this  immortality. 
Faith  becomes  in  the  soul  the  germ  of  eternal  life.* 
The  work  of  Christ  is  not  a  work  of  restoration,  which, 
by  bringing  to  us  the  gift  of  God  Himself,  gives  back 
to  us  a  lost  good,  for  that  good  we  never  possessed ;  it 
is  rather  an  entirely  new  creation,  which  changes  a  vile 
animal  into  a  being  in  the  image  of  the  Most  High. 
Not  only  were  we  in  our  primitive  state  entire  strangers 
to  the  divine  life,  but  we  could  not  make  any  claim  on 
God  even  as  our  Creator.  Our  vile  clay  could  not  have 
been  fashioned  by  His  glorious  hands,  for  so  miserable 
a  work  would  bring  dishonour  on  its  maker.  It  is 
impossible  for  us  to  know  whence  we  come,  and  what 
inferior  demi-urge  bestowed  on  us  motion  and  being. 
The  mystery  of  our  origin  eludes  all  our  search  and  is 
wrapt  in  impenetrable  darkness  ;  we  can  only  be  silent 
in  the  consciousness  of  our  misery. t  Let  the  pagan 
please  himself  with  the  imagination  that  his  soul  has 
wings  to  soar  into  the  eternal  light,  t  The  Christian 
nourishes  no  such  idle  fancies  ;  he  well  knows  that  he 
would  have  continued  to  grovel  in  the  mire,  and  would 
have  finally  sunk  into  it  altogether,  but  for  the  miracle 
of  grace.     The  pagan  thinks  to  enter  the  palace  of  the 

*  "Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  30-32.  t  Ibid.,  II.  50-63. 

I  "  V'os  alas  affuturas  putatis.  quibus  ad  ccelum  pergere  possitis." 
(Ibid.,  II. 33) 


620  THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Most  High  as  he  enters  his  own  house ;  the  Christian 
waits  to  be  gathered  into  the  dust  of  the  ground.  Thus 
does  Arnobius  blend  together  truth  and  error,  and  even 
heresy,  for  his  notions  of  the  creation  bear  the  clear 
impress  of  Gnosticism.  Nothing  is  more  just  than  to 
magnify  grace,  nothing  is  more  false  than  to  set  it  in 
absolute  opposition  to  nature,  as  is  done  by  our  apologist  ; 
for,  by  reducing  man  to  a  condition  truly  like  that  of  the 
beasts,  he  does  away  with  the  possibility  of  any  appeal 
to  conscience.  Christianity  is  then  merely  an  authori- 
tative interference  with  the  moral  life,  for  which  no 
preparation  has  been  made,  and  which  deals  with  an 
utterly  degraded  being,  who  is  dragged  by  terror  to  the 
foot  of  the  cross. 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  of  this  portion  of  the 
Apology  is  an  unlimited  scepticism.  Man  has  within 
him  nothing  divine  ;  he  has  no  power,  therefore,  to 
recognise  the  divine  without  him.  He  is  utterly  impo- 
tent to  rise  to  any  truth  of  a  higher  order.  "  Let  us 
respect,"  says  Arnobius,  "  the  mystery  of  causes.  Is 
there  any  truth,  clear,  transparent,  evident,  for  which 
the  human  mind  has  such  a  deep  reverence  that  it  will 
not  attempt  to  disprove  or  dissipate  it,  out  of  mere 
love  of  contradiction  ?  Is  there  any  error  so  patent 
that  no  one  is  found  ready  to  uphold  it  by  plausible 
argument  ?"* 

Arnobius  makes  large  use,  in  support  of  his  theory, 
of  the  diversity  of  human  opinions.  "  All  these  various 
opinions,"  he  says,  "cannot  be  true,  but  it  is  not  possi- 
ble to  discover  on  which  side  is  the  error,  so  powerfully 
is  each  sustained  by  argument.     And  yet  not  only  do 

*  "  Suis  omnia  relinquimus  causis.  Quid  est  enim  quod  humana 
ingenia  labefactare,  dissolvere  studio  contradictionis  non  audeant?" 
("Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  56.) 


BOOK   III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        62I 

these  opinions  differ  from  each  other,  but  they  are  self- 
contradictory.  Such  would  not  be  the  case  if  human 
curiosity  could  attain  to  anything  certain,  or  if  after 
having,  as  it  is  believed,  discovered  anything  certain,  it 
could  obtain  universal  assent  to  it.  It  is  the  height  of 
presumption  to  pretend  to  possess  any  certainty  or  to 
aspire  to  it,  since  truth  itself  can  be  refuted,  or  that 
may  be  accepted  as  real,  which  has  no  existence,  as  in 
cases  of  mental  hallucination;  It  is  fitting  that  thus  it 
should  be.  We  have  only  mere  human  faculties  with 
which  to  appreciate  and  measure  things  divine  ;  we  have 
nothing  divine  within  us."  *  Arnobius  speaks  not  only 
of  the  incapacity  of  human  reason  to  grasp  and  perfectly 
comprehend  infinite  truth  ;  he  does  not,  like  Pascal, 
claim  a  place  for  the  moral  faculties  in  the  examination 
of  a  religion,  which  speaks  primarily  to  the  heart  and 
conscience.  To  do  this  would  be  to  accept  the  grand 
method  of  the  Alexandrine  Fathers,  and  so  far  from 
such  a  course  being  open  to  the  charge  of  scepticism, 
its  initial  act  is  one  of  generous  trust  in  human  nature  ; 
it  widens  the  arena  of  the  discussion,  and  calls  in  the 
evidence  not  only  of  one  set  of  faculties,  but  of  man's 
whole  nature.  Arnobius  repudiates  in  toto  all  such 
evidence  ;  he  not  only  denies  the  competence  of  the 
testimony  thus  rendered,  but  he  declines  it  altogether; 
not  in  reason  nor  in  conscience,  nor  in  the  heart 
will  he  recognise  any  divine  element,  which  may  serve 
as  a  touchstone  in  the  matter  of  religion.  If  there  is 
no  harmony  between  man  and  truth,  we  maintain  there 
is  no  point  of   moral  contact    between    man    and   the 

*  "  Ouod  utique  non  fieret,  si  certum  aliquid  tcncrc  curiositas 
posset  humana  .  .  .  Inanissima  igitur  res  est.  tanquam  scias  ali- 
quid promere  aut  velle  scire  contendere  .  .  .  Et  merito  res  ita  est. 
Non  enim  divina  divinis,  sed  rationibus  pendimus  et  commetimur 
humanis."    ("  Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  57.) 


622  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Gospel,  and  the  only  appeal  possible  to  it  is  to  the 
senses,  since  none  can  reach  the  soul.  Recourse  must 
then  be  had  to  prodigies,  in  order  to  fascinate  by  a 
marvellous  spectacle  this  wholly  animal  creature.  The 
work  may  be  accomplished  by  authoritatively  crushing 
all  resistance  as  with  brute  force,  but  not  one  step 
would  even  then  be  gained  towards  conviction  or  serious 
belief.  Instead  of  a  living  soul,  Christianity  would 
have  made  conquest  of  but  a  dead  soul,  which  would 
be  incapable  of  negativing  error,  and  would  be  con- 
vinced of  but  one  thing,  its  own  incapacity  to  discover 
truth.  It  would  carry  into  the  religion  of  Christ  that 
scepticism,  which  unwise  apologists  have  taken  so  much 
pains  to  instil  into  it.  The  curse  and  chastisement  of 
sceptical  tendencies  enlisted  in  the  service  of  religion, 
is  that  they  perpetuate  themselves  and  do  not  cease 
at  the  bidding  of  those  who  have  gained  their  purpose 
by  them.  Within  the  Church,  as  without  it,  they 
destroy  the  very  faculty  of  faith,  and  with  it  the 
soul  which  has  harboured  them.  The  example  of  the 
first  apologist,  who  relied  upon  these  false  and  fatal 
aids,  well  proves  the  perils  of  such  a  method. 

It  is,  indeed,  startling  to  examine  the  proofs  upon 
which  Arnobius  builds  up  the  edifice  of  the  Christian 
faith.  It  was  not  enough  to  make  a  heap  of  ruins,  and 
to  pile  wreck  upon  wreck  in  order  to  find  a  solid  foun- 
dation. A  positive  demonstration  was  also  needed,  and 
Arnobius  has  no  other  argument  to  present  but  that  of 
miracle.  This  is  with  him  the  sole  guarantee  of  cer- 
tainty. He  has  trampled  down  the  spiritual  nature  of 
man ;  there  is,  therefore,  only  the  bodily  eye  left,  to 
which  he  can  address  himself.  Any  appeal  to  con- 
science would  be  a  mockery  on  the  part  of  an  apologist 
who  does  not  even  admit  man  to  be  at  the  head  of  the 


BOOK    III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.      623 

animal  creation  ;  he  has  then  but  one  recourse — to  rely 
on  the  testimony  of  the  senses,  and  this  he  does  not 
fail  to  do.  "  You,"  he  says  to  the  pagans,  "may  believe 
in  Plato,  in  Numenius,  or  in  whom  you  will;  we,  for  our 
part,  have  given  our  confidence  to  Jesus  Christ.  We 
can  render  a  far  better  reason  for  our  attachment  to 
His  person,  than  you  can  for  your  belief  in  philosophy. 
We  have  been  won  to  Him  by  His  glorious  works,  by 
the  effects  of  His  great  power  displayed  in  His  most 
divine  miracles.  These  miracles  constrain  us  to  believe 
that  He  was  more  than  man.*  What  are  the  miracles 
which  have  won  your  allegiance  to  your  philosophers, 
and  have  led  you  to  believe  in  them  rather  than  in 
Jesus  Christ  ?  Can  you  cite  one  saying  of  theirs  which 
has  proved  itself  efficacious  ?  Have  they  ever  been 
known  with  a  word  of  power,  I  say  not  to  still  the 
storm  of  the  sea  or  the  rage  of  the  tempest,  to  restore 
sight  to  the  blind  or  to  give  sight  to  those  who  were 
blind  from  their  birth,  to  call  back  the  dead  to  life,  or 
cure  inveterate  diseases;  but  to  do  far  easier  things  than 
these — to  cure  by  their  simple  word  of  command  the 
smallest  tumour  or  scab,  or  to  draw  a  pricking  thorn 
out  of  a  man's  hand  ?  We  do  not  call  in  question  the 
soundness  of  their  morals  or  their  great  learning  ;  we 
know  well  the  abundant  eloquence  of  their  language, 
we  know  that  they  can  link  syllogisms  closely  together, 
and  can  ably  draw  their  inductions.  But  what  comes 
of  all  these  acquirements?  No  enthymemes,  no  syllo- 
gisms, no,  not  all  the  logic  in  the  world  can  assure  us 
that  they  know  the  truth,  or  that  they  are  worthy  of 

*  "Ac  nos  quidem  in  illo  secuti  haec  sumus :  opera  ilia  magnifica 
potentissimasque  virtutes,  quas  variis  edidit  exhibuitque  miraculis, 
quibus  quivis  posset  ad  necessitatcm  credulitatis adduci,  et  judicare 
fideliter,  non  esse  quae  iierent  hominis,  scd  divinae  alicujus  atque 
incognita?  potestatis."    ("Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  11.) 


624  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

such  entire  confidence  that  we  may  accept  from  them 
that  which  we  cannot  comprehend.  The  palm  here 
must  be  given,  not  to  eloquence,  but  to  the  argument 
of  miracles  accomplished."  * 

Thus,  according  to  Arnobius,  the  clearest  demonstra- 
tion cannot  weigh  against  such  evidence  as  the  cure  of 
a  tumour.  Fanatical  adherence  to  the  external  and 
contempt  of  the  spiritual,  can  be  carried  to  no  greater 
length.  He  clings  almost  passionately  to  this  sole 
proof,  and  enlarges  upon  it  indefinitely.  The  picture 
drawn  by  him  of  the  Saviour's  miracles  is  over- 
coloured  and  in  extremely  bad  taste ;  the  description  of 
the  diseases  healed  by  the  Divine  Master  is  so  crudely 
realistic  that  it  excites  disgust.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the 
use  that  might  be  made  by  an  African  rhetor  like  Arno- 
bius, of  the  loathsome  disease  of  the  leper.  "  There  has 
been  a  man  among  us,"  he  says,  "who  by  a  word  cured 
thousands  of  sick  persons ;  His  voice  alone  calmed  the 
angry  waves  of  the  sea,  and  the  stormy  winds  obeyed  His 
command.  There  has  been  a  man  among  us  who  walked 
dryshod  in  the  deep  furrows  of  the  sea,  and  planted  His 
foot  on  the  crest  of  the  astonished  waves  ;  nature  was 
His  docile  instrument."  t  The  multiplication  of  the 
loaves,  the  healing  of  the  demoniacs,  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  are  described  in  an  inflated  style,  that 
imparts  a  legendary  hue  to  the  Gospel  narratives, 
which  in  their  simplicity  are  so  beautiful.  That  which 
Arnobius  especially  admires  in  the  miracles,  is  the 
manifestation  of  a  power  superior  to  natural  order, 
which  sports  with  the  laws  of  matter,  and  makes  them 
subservient  to  its  pleasure,  which  breaks  the  sequence 

*  Personarum  contentio  non  est  eloquentias  virib'us  sed  gestorum 
operum  virtute  pendenda.''     ("  Adv.  Gentes,"  II.  1 1.) 
t  Ibid.,  I.  45- 


BOOK  III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.       625 

of  ordinary  natural  laws,  and  manifests  its  divine 
sovereignty.*  Arnobius  endeavours  to  place  the  reality 
of  these  miracles  beyond  dispute.  He  adduces  three 
proofs.  The  testimony  of  the  apostles  is  the  first 
guarantee  of  the  Gospel  miracles;  they  were  themselves 
the  witnesses  of  the  events  they  record,  and  they  are  the 
more  worthy  to  be  believed  that  they  also  wrought  the 
same  prodigies. t  The  second  testimony  appealed  to  is 
that  of  mankind;  yes,  of  that  incredulous  race  of  man, 
which  could  not  withstand  evidence  clearer  than  the  sun. 
The  Gospel  can  show  over  the  whole  world  thousands 
of  adherents  gained  by  the  power  of  the  truth. X  If  the 
first  Christians  had  not  themselves  wrought  dazzling 
miracles  in  the  sight  of  the  pagans,  converts  would  not 
have  hazarded  their  lives  for  the  sake  of  a  decried 
doctrine. §  It  was  not  possible  that  all  these  prodigies 
should  be  committed  to  writing ;  many  have  been  pre- 
served by  oral  tradition,  which  are  not  recorded  in  our 
sacred  books.  As  to  these  sacred  books  themselves, 
they  bear  in  their  very  roughness  and  inexactness  the 
stamp  of  truthfulness,  ||  and  they  remove  any  lingering 
doubt  from  the  mind.  The  testimony  of  Scripture  is 
therefore  the  third  guarantee  for  the  miraculous  events 
which  are  the  basis  of  faith. ^[ 

Arnobius,  with  strange  inconsistency,  concludes  his 
book  with  bitter  reflections  on  the  unbelief  of  man- 
kind. But  if  it  be  true  that  man  is  by  nature  no  higher 
than  the  brutes,  and  that  there  is  nothing  divine  in 
him,  it  is  very  excusable  that  he  should  feel  far  more 
keenly  physical  sufferings  than  moral  maladies,  and 
should  be  more  eager  to  find  a  physician  for  the  body 
*  "  Adv.  Gentes,"  I.  47. 

+  "  Qui  ca  conspicati  sunt  fieri,  testes  optimi.     (Ibid.,  I.  54.) 
I  "Et  incredulum  illud  genus  humanum."     (Ibid.) 
§  Ibid.  I.  55.  ||  Ibid.,  I.  58,  59.  11  Ibid.,  I.  52. 


626  THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

than  for  the  soul.  The  work  of  the  spiritual  physician 
must  be,  indeed,  rather  to  create  souls  as  it  were,  than 
to  heal  them,  since  they  have  no  real  existence,  if 
they  are  not  immortal  in  their  essence,  and  before  the 
coming  of  the  physician  have  no  part  in  the  higher 
life.  In  fact,  the  creation  of  man  is,  on  Arnobius's 
theory,  effected  in  two  acts,  separated  by  a  vast 
interval.  The  clay  of  which  his  bodily  organism  is 
formed  was  fashioned  in  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
but  the  breath  of  the  divine  life  was  only  communi- 
cated to  him  at  the  appearing  of  Christ.  It  cannot 
be  strange  that  such  a  mere  creature  of  clay  should 
have  felt  no  thrill  of  joy  or  expectation  at  the  drawing 
near  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  He  should  have  owned 
no  attraction  in  His  person,  and  should  have  rejected 
Him  as  not  adapted  to  his  nature.  The  lower  is 
man's  origin,  the  more  excusable  is  his  unbelief;  for 
in  the  realm  of  morals  pre-eminently  does  the  maxim 
hold  :  Noblesse  oblige.  No  one  ever  dreams  of  reproach- 
ing the  brute  creation  with  their  insensibility  to  the 
presence  of  the  Incarnate  Word.  And  if  man  is  but 
another  animal,  he  may  justly  claim  a  similar  exemp- 
tion from  blame.  Thus  the  apologists  who  dishonour 
humanity,  teach  anything  but  a  lesson  of  humility. 
They  degrade  and  reassure  it  in  the  same  breath, 
and  alienate  it  from  Christianity  alike  by  the  scathing 
brand  they  set  upon  it,  and  by  the  excuses  with 
which  they  furnish  it.  This  melancholy  school  of 
apologists  condemns  itself,  since  it  ends  by  compro- 
mising that  which  it  aims  to  defend.  As  we  read 
Arnobius,  we  could  almost  imagine  again  and  again 
that  we  were  listening  to  the  words  of  Celsus,  so 
near  does  he  approach  to  the  great  scoffer,  in  his 
depreciation  of  human  nature.     He  seems  like  an  ad- 


BOOK  III. — THE    DEFENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.        627 

vocate  who  has  mistaken  his  brief,  and  by  the  most 
singular  inadvertence-  has  taken  up  the  cause  of  the 
adverse  party.  It  is  not  difficult  to  foretell  the  issue 
of  such  strange  proceedings  as  these  on  the  part  of 
the  defenders  of  Christianity. 

Unhappily,  Arnobius  writes  at  the  close  of  the  heroic 
age  of  the  Church,  on  the  eve  of  the  establishment 
of  Christianity  as  the  imperial  and  official  religion, 
under  which  every  evil  tendency  would  be  fostered, 
and  the  sword  placed  at  the  service  of  the  ne\v  religion. 
Man,  as  Arnobius  conceived  of  him,  despoiled  of  his 
native  dignity,  without  the  independence  springing 
from  an  inalienable  divine  relationship,  was  the  fit 
subject,  or  rather  the  docile  slave,  required  by  the 
religious  and  political  despotism,  which  was  about  to 
lay  its  heavy  yoke  upon  the  Church  and  the  world. 
Mankind  thus  regarded  was  nothing  better  than  inert 
matter,  malleable  clay,  to  be  wrought  upon  by  the 
twofold  tyranny,  of  which  the  reign  began  with  the 
Eastern  Empire  of  Constantine  and  his  successors. 
The  psychological  system  of  Origen  and  Tertullian 
would  not  have  subserved  the  ends  of  spiritual  tyranny, 
for  under  the  influence  of  that  great  school,  conscience 
rose  up  invincible  against  every  aggression,  in  the 
strength  of  its  God-given  freedom  and  right. 


NOTES  AND  EXPLANATIONS. 


Note  A. 

On  the  Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians. 

Hoefele  ("Prolegom.,"  p.  36,  38)  asserts  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians must  have  been  written  immediately  after  the  death  of  Peter  and 
Paul.  He  grounds  his  opinion  on  the  following  passage  :  "E\9iofitv  eVt 
tovq  tyyinra  ytvofikvovq  aQ\t]raQ.  ("Epist.  ad  Corinth.,"  v.)  But  it  is 
impossible  to  determine  exactly  what  Clement  intended  by  eyytara.  It  is 
evident  that,  compared  with  the  saints  of  the  old  covenant,  of  whom 
Clement  also  speaks,  the  apostles  are  very  little  removed  from  him.  The 
description  of  the  Jewish  worship  (c.  xl.  and  xli. )  seems,  in  Hcefele's  opinion, 
to  imply  that  the  Temple  had  not  yet  been  destroyed  ;  but  Clement 
might  perfectly  well  be  referring  to  the  Levitical  worship  described  in  the 
Scriptures,  although  that  worship  had  already  ceased  to  be  offered.  The 
description  of  the  persecution,  the  same  writer  holds  to  refer  to  the 
persecution  under  Nero.  But  Clement  may  well  have  been  speaking  in 
this  passage  of  all  the  persecutions  of  the  first  century,  and  calling  them 
rapidly  to  mind.     (See  Ritschl,  "  Altcatholische  Kirche,"  p.  2S6.) 

The  objections  to  the  date  suggested  by  us  seem,  therefore,  in  no  way 
conclusive. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  favour  of  that  date,  there  are  abundant  reasons 
in  the  letter  itself.  The  Church  of  Corinth  lias  already  a  considerable  past 
history.  ("Epist.  ad  Corinth.,"  i.)  Many  of  the  elders  appointed  by  the 
apostles  are  dead  (c.  xliv.)  The  rest  are  advanced  in  age.  The  death  of 
Peter  and  Paul  is,  however,  placed  in  that  generation  ;  that  is  to  say, 
within  the  last  thirty  years.  All  this  points  to  the  apostolic  age.  (Helgen- 
feld,  "  Apostoliche  Vaster,"  p.  83.) 

The  testimonies  of  the  Fathers  in  favour  of  the  high  antiquity  of  the 
Epistle  of  Clement,  are  many  and  weighty.     We  mention  only  the  prin- 


63O  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

cipal :  Irenoeus,  "Adv.  Hseres.,"  iii.  83;  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
"  Stromat.,"  i.  7  ;  Origen,  "  De  Principiis,  ii.  3  ;  Eusebius,  "H.  E.,"  III. 
xvi.     (See  the  passages  in  extenso  in  Cotelier.) 

The  spuriousness  of  the  second  epistle  of  Clement  is  now  put  beyond  a 
doubt.  Eusebius,  who  is  the  first  to  mention  it,  says  that  the  elders  made 
nouse  of  it:  "On  \ir\li  tovq  dpxaiovg  cwtjj  KtxprifikvoVQ  iv/jitv.  ("  H.  E.,"  III. 
xxxviii.)     Neither  St.  Jerome  nor  Photius  allude  to  it. 


Note  B. 

On  the  Letters  of  Ignatius. 

No  subject  has  given  rise  to  more  discussion  than  this.  An  entire 
volume  would  be  needed  to  deal  with  it  fully  ;  we  can  only  very  briefly  give 
our  reasons  in  favour  of  the  authenticity  of  the  three  letters  of  Ignatius  in 
the  Syriac  translation.  Let  us  first  touch  on  the  historical  side  of  the 
question.  In  the  fifth  century  there  were  extant,  first,  eleven,  and  soon  after 
fifteen  letters  in  Latin  alone,  said  to  be  by  Ignatius  ;  *  the  first  eleven 
letters  shortly  appeared  in  Greek.  Bishop  Usher  discovered  in  1644  two 
Latin  MSS.,  one  at  Cambridge,  which  contained  the  seven  letters  of 
Ignatius  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  in  a  much  more  concise  form.  Isaac 
Vossius,  two  years  laters,  found  the  Greek  text  of  this  same  edition  of  the 
letters  of  Ignatius,  with  the  exception  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which 
Ruinart  read  in  1698,  in  a  MS.  at  Paris,  containing  the  "Acts  of  the 
Martyrdom  of  Ignatius."  Here,  then,  were  two  texts  of  his  epistles — the 
one  long  and  diffuse,  the  other  much  more  condensed.  The  latter  did  not 
seem  of  unquestionable  authority,  and  the  illustrious  Daille  set  himself  to 
call  in  question  the  genuineness  of  the  seven  letters  mentioned  by  Eusebius.  f 
His  book  is  a  masterpiece  of  criticism  ;  in  it  he  displays  true  genius,  and 
discovers  for  himself  some  of  the  most  skilful  methods  of  modern  criticism. 
He  handles  the  internal  evidence  in  a  manner  really  remarkable ;  he 
dwells  on  the  style  and  the  history  of  doctrine  and  heresy,  as  well  as  on  the 
sentiments  of  the  writer,  in  order  to  prove  with  equal  vigour  and  logic, 
the  impossibility  of  ascribing  to  Ignatius  the  letters  which  bear  his  name. 
He  has  himself  well  defined  his  critical  method  thus  :   "  Ne  quid  scriberet 

*  The  names  of  these  epistles  are  :  to  the  Trallians,  to  the  Magnesians, 
to  the  Church  of  Tarsus,  to  the  Christians  of  Philippi,  of  Philadelphia,  of 
Smyrna,  of  Antioch,  of  Ephesus,  and  of  Rome  ;  the  letters  to  Polycarp,  and  to 
Nero  ;  two  letters  to  St.  John,  an  epistle  to  the  Virgin,  and  lastly  the  letter 
to  Maria  Cassabolita.     All  these  are  found  in  the  second  volume  of  Cotelier. 

t  Johannis  Dallcei,  "  De  Scriptis  qua?  sub  Dyonisii  areopagitae  et  Ignatii 
nominibus  circumferuntur."     Libri  duo.  Geneva,  1666. 


LETTERS    OF   IGNATIUS.  63I 

quod  non  ad  Christianam  fidem  constituendam  ct  ad  pietatem  confirmandam 
utile  conditum,  etiam  tit  ea  diceret  qua;  ad  proprium  Ignatii  ingeniura, 
mores,  institua,  facta  actaque  quam  proximo  accideret"  (p.  432). 

Daille  clearly  establishes  that  Ignatius  could  not  have  combated  in  the 
year  107  heresies  which  had  no  definite  existence  till  the  middle  of  the 
second  century,  nor  have  given  expression  to  the  theory  of  an  episcopal 
monarchy,  at  a  period  when  it  is  notorious  that  the  identity  of  the  bishop 
and  the  elder  was  still  maintained.  The  error  of  the  learned  critic  con- 
sists in  not  having  distinguished  with  sufficient  clearness  between  the  two 
texts  attributed  to  Ignatius.  Bishop  Pearson  replied  in  a  voluminous 
work  entitled  "  Vindiciae  epistolarum  sancti  Ignatii;"*  in  his  work  he 
displays  both  science  and  resolute  purpose,  as  he  follows  his  adversary  step 
by  step.  After  a  vefy  long  discussion  of  the  testimony  of  the  Fathers,  he 
proceeds  to  the  internal  evidence  ;  he  makes  incredible  efforts  to  trace  back 
to  the  commencement  of  the  second  century  the  heresies  and  episcopal  notions 
of  the  third.  After  this  introductory  controversy,  the  disputants  divided 
into  two  theological  camps.  While  Neander  expressed  a  prudent  doubt, 
Rothe  lent  his  extensive  learning  and  his  great  talent  to  the  cause  defended  by 
Pearson.  (See  the  passage  devoted  to  the  epistles  of  Ignatius  in  the 
"Anfamge  der  Christ.  Kirche.")  The  Tubingen  school  endeavoured  to 
show  the  spuriousness  of  the  letters  of  Ignatius,  in  order  to  support  its  own 
favourite  propositions.  (Schwegler,  "  Nachapost.  Zeitalt.,"  ii.  159.)  The 
whole  controversy  was  revived  by  the  discovery  made  in  1839  by  Tattam, 
in  a  monastery  of  the  desert  of  Nitri,  of  three  Syriac  manuscripts,  con- 
taining the  Epistles  to  Polycarp,  that  to  the  Romans,  and  that  to  the 
Ephesians,  in  a  very  concise  form.  Another  Syriac  manuscript,  discovered 
in  1847,  reproduces  precisely  the  same  text.  These  discoveries,  edited  by 
Cureton,  were  published. f  Bunsen  issued  in  Greek  the  three  letters  of  the 
Syriac  edition  in  his  "  Antenicccna."  +  While  Hcefele,  on  the  part  of  the 
Catholics,  §  and  Baur  ||  and  Helgenfeld,*7  on  the  part  of  the  Tubingen  school, 
dispute  the  authenticity  of  the  Syrian  text,  Bunsen,**  Ritschl,+f  and 
Lepsius,  XX  defend  it  by  very  weighty  arguments.  A  young  Genevese  theo- 
logian, M.  Pierre  Vaucher,  published,  in  1856,  a  very  learned  treatise  on  this 
subject.  To  us,  however,  it  seems  to  have  the  effect  of  singularly  weakening 
the  arguments  brought  forward  by  the  advocates  of  the  genuineness  of  the 

*  Oxford  edition,  1652,  second  volume.  The  same  work  is  inserted  in 
Cotelier's  second  volume. 

f  "  Corpus  Ignatianum."     W.  Cureton,  London,  1849. 

X  "  Antenicaena,"  I.  43-53. 

§  "Patrum  Apost.  Opera,"  third  edition,  p.  58. 

||   "Die  [gnatianischer  Briefe  und  ihre  neuesten  Kritiker." 

^[  "  Apostohsche  Vaeter,"  p.  274-279. 

**  "  Ignatius  von  Antiochien  und  seine  Zeit."     Bunsen,  1847. 
ft  "Altcatholische  Kin!:.-,"  p.  418. 
XX  "Zeitschrift  ftir  die  hhtorische  Theologie,"  1856.     First  edition. 


632  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Syriac  text.*  For  our  own  part  we  are  fully  convinced,  on  the  following 
grounds,  that  Cureton  has  given  us  the  genuine  Ignatius. 

1st.  We  remark  that  prior  to  Eusebius  ("  H.  E.,"  III.  xxxiv.)  no  evidence 
can  be  brought  forward  from  the  Fathers,  in  support  of  a  single  passage  of 
the  ancient  Greek  text  of  Ignatius.  Irenaeus  ("Adv.  Heeres.,"  v.  28) 
quotes  a  passages  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  is  found  in  the 
two  editions  of  Ignatius  (St'roc  tifii  Qeov).  Origen  cites  a  passage  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which  is  in  the  Syriac  (* E\a9e  rbv  dpxovra  ruv 
aiu>vo£i]  TrapBivia,  "Homilia,"  VI.,  "InLuc"),  and  this  other  passage  from 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  also  occurs  in  the  Syriac  :  "Meus  autem 
amor  crucifixos  est."  ("  Prolog,  in  Cantic.  cantic")  Whatever  Pearson  may 
say,  it  cannot  but  appear  unaccountable  that  Irenaeus,  who  is  so  glad  to 
strengthen  his  position  by  the  testimony  of  his  predecessors,  should  not 
have  cited  the  passages  in  which  Ignatius  opposes  the  same  heretics  as  he 
himself,  if  those  passages  had  been  before  his  eyes. 

2nd.  A  comparison  of  the  shortest  Greek  text  with  the  Syriac,  is  in 
itself  sufficient  to  prove  the  priority  of  the  latter.  So  far  from  the  Syriac 
having  the  incoherent  character  of  an  unintelligent  extract,  as  Helgenfeld 
asserts,  it  is  full  of  force  and  manly  vigour,  and  if  it  is  not  free  from 
obscurity,  that  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  rejecting  it.  Lepsius  gives  a 
detailed  comparison  of  the  two  texts,  which  seems  to  enable  us  to  lay  our 
finger  on  the  system  of  the  interpolator.  Let  the  more  extensive  Greek 
text  be  studied  in  Cotelier  (ii.  451-28);  let  it  be  compared  with  the 
abridged  Greek  text  published  by  Vossius,  and  the  same  relation  will  be 
perceived  between  them  as  between  the  Greek  of  Vossius  and  the  Syriac. 
Let  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  for  example,  be  compared  in  the  text  of 
Vossius  with  the  same  Epistle  in  the  Syriac.  In  the  one  all  is  simple, 
broad,  full  of  restrained  power  ;  the  other  is  lax  and  diffuse.  Thus,  in 
the  Syriac,  Ignatius  contents  himself  with  expressing  his  gratitude  to  the 
Ephesians  for  sending  to  him  their  bishop  (c.  i.),  while  in  the  Greek  we  have 
five  chapters  making  use  of  the  occasion  to  lay  down  the  most  monarchical 
theories  of  episcopacy  (c.  iii.  to  viii. )  The  Syriac  subsequently  gives  some 
earnest  exhortations,  full,  at  the  same  time,  of  firmness  and  gentleness.  In 
the  Greek  these  are  drowned  in  fierce  invectives  against  the  heretics 
(cviii.  ix.),  and  in  prolix  dissertations.  But  the  interpolation  is  still  more 
palpable  at  the  end  of  the  Epistle.  The  Syriac  simply  speaks  of  the  star 
which  announced  the  reign  of  the  Saviour.  The  Greek  develops  this 
theme  after  the  manner  of  the  Apocryphal  Gospels.  "A  star,"  it  says, 
' '  shone  in  the  heavens,  surpassing  in  glory  every  other  star ;  its  light  was 
ineffable,  and  its  strangeness  threw  men  into  consternation.  All  the  other 
stars,  with  the  sun  and  moon,  formed  a  train  to  this  star  ;  it  cast  its  light 
over  all.     ("Ad  Eph.,"  xix.)    Such  a  passage  as  this  bears  the  unmistake- 

*  See  also  M.  Reville's  articles  in  the  journal,  "  Le  Lien."    1S56. 


LETTERS    OF    IGNATIUS.  633 

able  mark  of  a  fabrication.  A  comparison  of  the  two  other  Greek  letters 
with  the  Syriac  gives  the  same  result.  As  to  the  four  supposed  letters,  they 
are  composed  on  the  system  of  the  interpolations  of  the  three  genuine  letters, 
and  give  the  same  tokens  of  the  hand  of  the  forger.  (The  analysis  of  these 
may  he  seen  in  Bunsen's  "  Ignatius  und  seine  Zeit,"  p.  64.) 

3rd.  Considered  from  a  doctrinal  point  of  view,  the  Syriac  bears  the 
character  of  far  greater  antiquity  than  the  Greek.  If  Lepsius  goes  too  far 
in  imputing  a  sort  of  patripassianism  to  the  former,  it  is  nevertheless  certain 
that  the  manner  in  which  it  speaks  of  Jesus  Christ  leads  to  the  supposition 
that  the  author  was  ignorant  of  the  problems  of  Christology  started  by 
theologians  from  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  with  reference  to  the 
person  of  the  Redeemer.  The  Greek  text  is  incomparably  more  exact  and 
more  dogmatic.  Thus,  while  the  Syriac  simply  says  ("Ad  Eph. ,"  i. ) 
that  He  who  was  invisible  became  visible  for  our  salvation,  the  Greek  enters 
into  an  expansion  of  the  doctrine,  such  as  the  following:  "There  is  one 
sole  physician,  clothed  in  human  flesh,  and  yet  spiritual,  made  and  not 
made  (yfii-og  \ai  dylv(Tog),  God  existing  in  man,  true  life  in  death,  born  of 
Mary  and  of  God,  once  subject  to  suffering,  now  impassible,  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  ("Ad  Eph."  vii.,  comp.  "Ad  Trail.,"  ix.  ;  "Ad  Smyrn.,"  i.; 
"Ad  Magnes.,"  xi.)  The  heresies  indicated  in  a  very  general  manner  in 
the  Syriac,  are  characterised  in  the  minutest  detail  in  the  Greek  text,  which 
designates  them  under  the  unraistakeable  traits  of  Gnostic  docetism.  Now, 
this  docetism  did  not  assume  such  definite  form  till  a  far  later  period. 
Cerinthus  did  not  deny  the  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  he  only  denied  that 
the  humanity  was  united  with  the  divinity.  But  the  docetes  spoken  of  in 
the  Greek  epistles,  regard  that  humanity  as  nothing  more  than  a  semblance.* 
We  may  add  that  the  tone  of  the  Syriac,  in  speaking  of  the  heretics,  is 
moderate,  while  that  of  the  Greek  is  bitter  and  violent.  The  Greek  goes 
even  so  far  as  to  speak  of  the  heretics  as  wild  beasts  in  the  letter  to  the 
Ephesians  (c.  vii.)  ;f  the  Syriac  uses  far  different  language  in  the  Epistle  to 
Polycarp.  "If  thou  lovest  only  the  good  disciples,"  it  says,  "thou  art 
wanting  in  grace.      Bear  gently  with  the  most  evil."  % 

4th.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  Syriac  and  the  Greek  with 
regard  to  ecclesiastical  organisation,  and  we  discover  here  (but  in  favour 
of  the  Syriac)  that  which  Daille  called  the  palmarium  argumenium — the 
triumphant  argument.  In  fact,  it  is  not  necessary  to  prove  that  tha  Greek 
establishes  a  marked  difference  between  the  elders  and  the  bishop,  and  gives 
full  expression  to  the  episcopal  theory.  It  exalts  the  office  far  above  the  person. 
The  bishop,  according  to  the  Greek,  is  invested  with  an  apostolic  character 
(sv  a.7ro(jTo\tK(;~j  \aii(iKriif>i.  subscription  of  the  letter  to  the  Trallians).  lie 
is  positively  the  vicar  of  God  and  of  Jesus  Christ      ("  Ad  Magnes.,"  iii.  vi.) 

*  Asyovaiv  to  dox&v  TCticovBivcu  avrov.     ("Ad  Smyrn.,"  ii.) 

f  'Qe  9j]pia.  X  TotV  yoi/.wripovr  vTruTarjcrt.     ("  Ad  Poly.,"  i.) 

41 


634  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

To  obey  the  bishop  is  to  obey  the  will  of  God.  ("  Eph.,"  iii.  iv.)  It  is  he 
who  directs  the  worship.  ("  Ad  Smyrn.,"  viii.)  We  are  brought  into  the 
presence  of  a  fully  developed  episcopal  organisation.  It  is  impossible  to 
reconcile  such  language  with  that  of  Clement  of  Rome,  of  Polycarp,  or  of 
the  "Shepherd  of  Hermas."  In  the  Syriac,  nothing  of  the  sort  appears. 
Bunsen  and  Lepsius  justly  remark,  that  if  a  larger  measure  of  influence  is 
accorded  to  the  bishop  in  the  Syriac  text  than  in  the  other  writings  of  the 
Apostolic  Fathers,  it  is  not  the  influence  so  much  of  the  office  as  of  the 
personal  character  of  the  bishop.  The  first  two  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to 
Polycarp  show  how  strenuously  Ignatius  urges  the  bishop  to  the  fulfilment 
of  his  duties.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (c.  iv. )  we  see  that  Ignatius 
wrote  at  a  time  when  the  episcopal  theory  was  still  in  embryo,  and  only  a 
certain  degree  of  precedence  was  accorded  to  one  of  the  elders  above  the 
rest ;  a  long  period  had  to  elapse  before  this  germ  of  episcopacy  developed 
into  the  complete  form  it  presents  in  the  Greek. 

5th.  The  interpolations  of  the  Greek  text  are  very  evident  in  the  legen- 
dary additions  made  to  the  Syriac  in  the  details  of  Ignatius'  journey,  and 
of  the  feelings  of  the  martyr.  The  Syriac  simply  shows  us  the  Bishop 
Onesimus  by  the  side  of  Ignatius  ("Ad  Eph.,"  i.),  joined  afterwards  by 
some  deputies  from  the  churches  ("Rom.,"xx. )  According  to  the  Greek 
text,  he  presides  over  regular  assemblies  of  the  Church,  and  conducts 
formal  discussions.  ("  Philadelphia,"  vii.  viii.)  The  heretics  dispute  with 
him.  ("Ad  Smyrn.,"  vii.)  The  Syriac,  at  the  close  of  the  letter  to 
Polycarp,  speaks  in  very  simple  terms  of  a  Christian  who  was  sent  to 
Antioch,  who  is  probably  the  successor  of  Ignatius.  The  Greek  (c.  vii.  vii.) 
conjures  up  a  whole  series  of  ambassadors,  appointed  by  the  Churches  to 
communicate  with  one  another.  Even  Ignatius  himself  does  not  appear  to 
us  in  the  same  light  in  the  Syriac  and  the  Greek.  The  former  shows  him 
blending  gentleness  with  firmness  ;  the  latter  represents  him  as  a  fanatic  and 
violent  man  ;  it  exaggerates  his  humility,  and  makes  him  say,  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  that  he  is  ashamed  to  be  called  a  Christian.  ("  Rom.,"  vii.) 
From  a  comparison  of  the  two  texts,  the  priority  of  the  Syriac  is  to  us 
established  beyond  a  doubt. 

Baur  and  Helgenfeld  pretend  to  discover  in  the  letters  of  Ignatius,  even 
in  the  Syriac  text,  the  impress  of  Gnosticism,  and  they  cite,  in  support  of 
this  opinion,  the  doctrine  therein  contained  on  the  nature  of  angels.  They 
bring  forward  the  expression  apxqv  rov  kovhov  ("  Ad  Eph.,"  iii.),  but 
this  is  evidently  an  expression  taken  from  Scripture.  (See  2  Cor.,  iv.  4.) 
The  word  ir\i]piofia  (the  subscription  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians)  brings 
to  mind  Col.  i.  19.  The  Syriac  does  not  on  any  of  these  points  go  beyond 
the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  the  genuineness  of  which  we  have  already 
proved. 


AUTHENTICITY   OF   "  PHILOSOPHOUMENA."        635 

Note  C. 
On  the  Authenticity  of  the  u  Philosophoumena,"  • 

However  diverse  may  be  the  results  arrived  at  by  criticism  with  regard  to 
the  "  Philosophoumena,"  one  thing  at  least  is  definitely  established — the 
high  antiquity  of  the  document.  All  the  writers  who  have  taken  up  the 
question  are  unanimous  in  their  decision  that  the  writer  lived  in  the  third 
century,  and  that  consequently  he  had  direct  knowledge  of  the  facts  he 
narrates.  It  is  certain  that  Theodoret  had  before  him  at  least  the  last  two 
books  of  the  "  Philosophoumena."  He  borrowed  largely  from  them  in  his 
"  History  of  Heresies  "  (Theodoret,  i.  14-19  ;  ii.  7),  especially  with  reference 
to  the  heresy  of  Callisthus  (iii.  3). 

We  are  not  satisfied  with  affirming  merely  the  antiquity  of  the  document. 
We  are  prepared  to  maintain  that  it  is  really  the  work  of  St.  Hippolytus. 
Let  us  first  call  to  mind  the  subjects  treated  in  the  "  Philosophoumena." 
The  first  book,  which  we  already  possess  in  Pere  de  la  Rue's  edition  of 
Origen,  is  a  calm  and  methodical  exposition  of  the  principal  philosophies  of 
Greece.  The  author  designs  to  establish  that  all  the  heresies  had  been 
derived  by  their  founders  from  this  source.  The  next  book,  which  was  the 
fourth  of  the  complete  work,  is  devoted  to  treating  the  widely  spread  errors 
of  astrology.  Book  V.  makes  us  acquainted  with  the  most  ancient  heresies, 
in  which  we  may  trace  the  as  yet  formless  germ  of  Gnosticism.  The  sixth 
book  continues  the  same  subject,  and  preserves  for  us  a  valuable  fragment  of 
the  writing  of  Valentinus.  The  doctrine  of  Basilides,  Marcion,  Cerinthus, 
Tatian,  Montanus,  and  other  heretics  is  expounded  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
book.  The  ninth  carries  us  into  the  heart  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  in  it 
the  author's  contest  with  the  two  Bishops,  Zephyrinus  and  Callisthus,  is  vividly 

*  We  already  possess  an  entire  literature  on  this  important  subject.  We 
quote  the  principal  works  or  articles  : 

"  Hippolytus  und  seine  Zeit,"  von  Christian  Carl  Josias  Bunsen.  Leipsic, 
Brockhaus,  1852.     The  same  book  in  English,  second  edition,  1854. 

"  Hippolytus  und  Callistus,"  von  Dcellinger,  Regensburg,  1853. 

"Hippolytus  und  die  Rcemischen  Zeitgenossen."      Von  Volkmar.     Zurich, 

1855- 

"  St.  Hippolytus  and  the  Church  of  Rome."     Wordsworth,   1852. 

"  Etude  sur  les  nouveaux  documents  historiques  emprunte'sal'ouvrage  recem- 
ment  decouvert  des  Philosophoumena."  Par  M.  l'Abbe"  Cruiee.  Chez  PeVisse 
freres.     Paris,  1853. 

The  text  was  first  published  by  Mr.  Milner,  at  Oxford,  in  1851.  M.  l'Abbe 
Cruiee  published  it  in  Paris  (1859)  with  translation  and  commentaries. 

We  may  refer  lastly  to  : 

Articles  in  the  "  Correspondant."  By  M.  l'Abbe  Freppel  and  by  M.  Ch. 
Lenormant.      Paris,    1853.      Pp.  502-553. 

Articles  by  Baur — "  jahrbucher."  1853.  Parts  1  and  3,  article  by  Geiseler 
— "Studien  und  Critiken."  1853.  Part  4,  article  by  Jacobi — "  Deutshe  Zeit- 
schrift."  June  21,  1851. 


636  THE   EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

depicted.  Lastly,  the  tenth  book  gives  an  epitome  of  the  whole  work,  and 
concludes  with  a  very  beautiful  confession  of  faith.  Evidently  the  writer  of 
the  "  Philosophoumena  "  is  a  man  profoundly  versed  in  ancient  philosophy, 
and  able  to  estimate  with  a  full  knowledge  of  cause  and  effect,  the  dogmatic 
differences  of  his  day.  He  is  also  a  man  of  sufficient  independence  of 
spirit  to  enter  into  controversy  with  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  his  confession 
of  faith  betokens  a  large  and  lofty  intellect.  We  may  add  that  his  book 
constantly  shows  traces  of  the  influence  of  Irenaeus.  It  is  evident  that  he 
has  the  work  of  Irenaeus  before  him.  Now,  if  we  compare  all  these  indica- 
tions with  that  which  we  know  from  history  about  Hippolytus,  we  shall 
find  we  have  made  a  great  step  towards  the  settlement  of  the  question  under 
debate.  All  the  ecclesiastical  writers  who  mention  Hippolytus  agree  in 
praising  his  competence  in  matters  of  philosophy.  We  know  that  he  wrote 
a  book  on  Plato.  We  know  further  that  he  took  especial  cognisance  of  the 
heresies  of  his  age,  and  that  he  was  considered  to  be  a  disciple  of  Irenseus. 
The  paschal  cycle  engraved  upon  his  episcopal  chair,  proves  his  aptitude  in 
treating  the  subject  contained  in  the  fourth  book,  for  a  very  extensive 
acquaintance  with  astronomy  was  required  for  such  a  vigorous  controversy 
with  pagan  astrology.  Lastly,  we  learn  from  two  verses  of  Prudentius, 
that  it  was  in  the  memory  of  Christian  antiquity  that  Hippolytus  had  a 
contest  Vith  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  Every  indication  which  we  can  gather 
with  reference  to  the  author  of  the  "Philosophoumena"  from  the  work 
itself,  applies  perfectly  to  St.  Hippolytus  as  he  was  known  to  us  before  the 
discovery  of  that  valuable  document.  Surely  there  is  here  very  substantial 
evidence,  or  at  the  least  a  very  strong  presumption,  in  support  of  our 
opinion. 

It  may  fairly  be  asked,  however,  whether  there  was  no  other  Christian 
teacher  in  the  third  century  to  whom  these  characteristics  might  apply. 
Our  adversaries  have  asserted  that  such  is  the  case,  and  before  going  further 
we  will  dispose  of  their  theories.  Three  names  have  been  mentioned,  those 
of  Origen,  Caius,  and  Tertullian.  Mr.  Miller,  the  learned  editor  of  the 
"Philosophoumena,"  and  M.  Charles  Lenormant,  support  the  first  hypo- 
thesis. They  do  so  on  these  grounds  :  that  the  manuscript  bore  the  name 
of  Origen ;  that  the  first  book  was  inserted  by  the  Benedictines  among  his 
works  ;  and  lastly,  that  the  vast  theological  and  philosophical  learning  of  the 
doctor  of  Alexandria  point  to  him  as  the  author.  We  can  well  under- 
stand that  it  would  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  if 
it  could  be  established  that  Origen  was  the  author  of  the  "  Philosophoumena," 
since  in  the  estimation  of  that  Church  the  authority  of  Origen  as  that  of 
one  accused  of  heresy,  is  nil.  But  this  theory  has  so  little  to  sustain  it, 
that  even  Catholic  writers  like  Dcellinger  and  the  Abbe  Cruice  have  com- 
bated it  with  invincible  arguments.  The  name  of  Origen,  inserted  in  the 
margin  of  the  manuscripts,  proves  absolutely  nothing.     We  know  what  was 


*>17 

the  ignorance  of  the  convent  scribes  ;  nor  is  there  any  evidence  that  the 
copyist  intended  more  than  simply  to  refer  to  Origen  one  of  the  special 
opinions  of  the  book.  There  arises,  however,  a  more  serious  difficulty  :  the 
author  of  the  "  Philosophoumena"  declares  most  positively  that  he  was  a 
bishop.*  Now,  Origen  never  was  a  bishop.  The  author  makes  a  sojourn 
in  Rome,  and  has  charge  of  a  Church  in  that  city.  Origen,  on  the  testi- 
mony of  Eusebius,  only  passed  through  Rome.f  Finally,  the  doctrine  of 
the  writer  differs  completely  from  that  of  Origen  on  one  main  point.  We 
know  what  importance  Origen  attached  to  the  idea  of  the  final  restoration  of 
all,  and  how  strongly  he  denied  eternal  punishment.  The  author  of  the 
"Philosophoumena,"  on  the  contrary,  affirms  it  categorically.* 

Are  the  advocates  of  the  second  hypothesis  more  successful  ?  Was  Caius 
the  author  of  the  "  Philosophoumena  ?"  This  is  the  opinion  of  Baur.  He 
relies  on  the  indirect  testimony  of  Photius.  ("Bibl.  Cod.,"  48.)  The 
patriarch  attributed  to  Caius  a  book  "On  the  Universe."  Now,  the 
writer  of  the  "  Philosophoumena  "  claims  the  authorship  of  a  book  on  this 
subject  ;  and  Baur  draws  the  conclusion  that  Caius  is  the  author  of  both. 
Photius  himself,  however,  was  careful  to  guard  his  assertion  by  saying  he 
could  not  arrive  at  any  certainty  on  this  point  of  criticism.  §  More  than 
this,  the  details  which  Eusebius  gives  us  with  reference  to  Caius  are  incom- 
patible with  the  composition  of  the  "Philosophoumena."  Caius  was  an 
elder  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  under  Zephyrinus  and  Callisthus.  (Eusebius, 
"  H.  E.,"  II.  xxv.)  He  is  known  to  «have  successfully  opposed  the 
Montanists.  Is  it  conceivable  that  in  all  the  heat  of  the  conflict,  he  should 
have  spoken  of  his  adversaries  with  the  calmness  and  brevity  with  which 
they  are  treated  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  manuscript  ?  Eusebius  asserts 
("  H.  E.,"  II.  xxviii. )  that  Caius  went  so  far  in  his  opposition  to  the  Mon- 
tanists as  to  deny  the  authenticity  of  the  Revelation,  and  to  ascribe  its 
authorship  to  the  heretic  Cerinthus.  Our  writer,  on  the  contrary,  has  no 
doubt  of  its  apostolic  character.  ||  We  hold  it,  then,  to  be  impossible  that 
Caius  should  have  written  the  "  Philosophoumena." 

A  French  theologian  has  hazarded,  not  without  some  hesitation,  a  third 
hypothesis,  which  has  no  claim  to  detain  us  long.      M.  l'Abbe  Cruice,  now 
Bishop  of  Marseilles,  who  has  brought  out  a  new  edition  of  the  "  Philoso- 
phoumena,"  with  a  commentary  and  a  translation,  suggests  the  name  of 
Tertullian  as  the  author  of  the  manuscript.      It  would  be,  indeed,  a  boon  to 
the  defenders  of  the  hierarchy,  could  they  ascribe  to  the  fiery  teacher  of 
Carthage,  who  became  a  heretic,  the  stern  words  of  the  ninth  book.   Callisthus 
would  then  appear  as  the  representative  only  of  moderation  and  wisdom, 
*  Apx^pcirtiag  Tt  kcu  ciCacrKaXicHj  ptT(x<>VTiQ.      ("Phil.,"  p.  3.) 
t   Ev9a  ov  ~o\v  cuiTpixpag.      (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xiv.) 
+  'Ayyt\u>v  KoXa^uiv  oujta  ad  fitvuv.     ("  Phil.,"  p.  39.) 
§  OijTTjj  [ioi  yiyovtv  ti>C>]Xov. 
|j  Tbuyiovirvtvuaud  r//c  AiroxaXv^tiog  lojdvvijg  ijXiyxi.    ("Phil.,"  p.  258.) 


638  THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY, 

and  Tertullian  would  still  be  the  passionate  tribune,  whose  eloquence  might 
deserve  admiration,  but  whose  testimony  was  of  no  authority  or  weight. 
Unhappily  this  agreeable  solution  of  the  question  presents  some  difficulties. 
First  of  all,  supposing  that  Tertullian  would  have  written  in  Greek,  it 
would  certainly  not  have  been  in  comparatively  correct  Greek.  Then,  he 
would  not  have  spoken  of  Montanism  as  heresy.  He  would  not  have 
treated  philosophy  with  such  lofty  moderation.  The  writer,  who  in  the  fifth 
book  of  his  "  Prescriptions"  has  nothing  but  insults  for  the  great  philoso- 
phers of  Greece,  who  cannot  restrain  his  indignation,  and  who  exclaims, 
Miserum  Aristotelicem  I  would  not  have  set  forth  with  so  much  calmness  the 
opinions  of  the  Aristotelians,  and  certainly  he  would  not,  in  his  peroration, 
have  borrowed  from  Socrates  the  yvtiOi.  otavrov.  Again  :  he  would 
certainly  not  have  placed  among  the  accusations  brought  against  Callisthus, 
the  introduction  of  second  baptism  ("Philo.,"  p.  291),  after  having  himself 
ardently  advocated  it  in  a  special  treatise.  M.  l'Abbe  Cruice  discovers  a 
certain  analogy  between  the  views  of  Tertullian  and  those  of  the  unknown 
author  of  the  "  Philosophoumena"  as  to  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  but 
who  does  not  know  that,  before  the  Council  of  Niceea,  the  subordination  of 
the  Son  to  the  Father  was  very  generally  acknowledged.  It  might  as  well 
be  asserted  that  Tertullian  and  Origen  belonged  to  the  same  school.  But 
even  if  we  had  not  all  these  grounds  for  rejecftng  the  hypothesis  of  M. 
l'Abbe  Cruice,  it  would  suffice  to  read  a  couple  of  pages  of  Tertullian  and 
then  any  portion,  however  shott,  of  the  "  Philosophoumena."  Tertullian 
might  almost  be  said  to  put  his  name  to  every  line  of  his  writings.  The 
whole  man  appears  in  every  page,  with  all  his  passion,  power,  indignation, 
and  sublime  imagination,  perpetually  pitting  thought  against  thought,  word 
against  word,  in  the  sharp  conflict  of  antitheses.  We  find  nothing  like  this 
in  the  somewhat  slow  and  careful  method  of  the  author  of  the  "  Philoso- 
phoumena." In  fact,  internal  evidence  must  be  for  ever  abandoned  if  this 
manuscript  is  really  from  the  pen  of  Tertullian. 

With  these  weighty  objections  to  Origen,  Caius,  and  Tertullian,  it  seems  to 
us  difficult  to  controvert  the  opinion  we  have  advanced.  Is  there  any  reason  for 
asserting,  as  does  M.  l'Abbe  Cruice,  that  if  Tertullian  is  not  the  author,  the 
book  must  have  been  composed  by  some  unknown  heretic  ?  We  should 
then  need  to  inquire  how  it  was  that  a  man  of  such  power,  should  have  been 
undiscovered  at  Rome  in  the  third  century  ?  Where  could  this  anonymous 
teacher  have  hidden  himself,  who  knew  so  intimately  well  the  Church  of 
his  time,  and  who  had  mental  powers  so  distinguished  and  so  highly  culti- 
vated ?  It  must  be  confessed  that  he  made  use  of  a  treacherous  art,  since 
he  so  perfectly  identified  himself  with  St.  Hippolytus,  as  to  succeed  in 
thinking  his  identical  thoughts  and  writing  with  his  pen. 

We  have  three  conclusive  proofs  of  the  authenticity  of  the  document 
to  advance. 


AUTHENTICITY    OF    "  PHILOSOPHOUMENA."         639 

1st.  The  ancient  historians  of  the  Church  declare  that  St.  Hippolytns 
wrote  a  book  on  heresies.  Eusebius  says  distinctly  that  this  book  was 
against  all  the  heresies.*  Epiphanius  entirely  agrees  with  him  on  this 
point. f  He  places  Hippolytns  in  the  same  rank  with  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria, and  Irenseus. 

2ml.  Photius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  says  in  his  "  Bibliotheca," 
e.  exxiv.,  that  he  was  acquainted  with  a  writing  of  St.  Hippolytus  on  the 
heresies.  He  gives  a  tolerably  complete  description  of  this  writing,  and 
one  is  struck,  on  reading  it,  with  the  differences  and  analogies  existing 
between  the  work  thus  described  and  the  "  Philosophoumena. "  The  differ- 
ences, however,  are  but  superficial  ;  the  analogy  of  the  subject-matter  is 
evident.  The  subject  is  the  same.  Both  books  treat  of  the  heresies  of  true 
early  ages.  If  the  number  of  the  heresies  mentioned  does  not  exactly 
agree,  there  is  yet  no  shadow  of  doubt  that  in  both  works  they  were 
arranged  in  the  same  manner,  in  the  same  order,  and  with  the  same 
arguments.  Lastly,  Photius  speaks  of  the  book  which  he  is  analysing  as 
standing  in  the  same  relation  of  dependence  to  the  work  of  Irenseus,  which 
is  patent  in  our  manuscript.  So  far  we  have  discovered  no  difference  be- 
tween the  two  writings,  except  that  in  the  number  of  the  heresies.  Photius 
suggests  a  more  serious  difficulty  when  he  speaks  of  the  treatise  on  the 
heresies  as  a  little  book  [pifiXiddpiov).  The  "  Philosophoiimena,"  originally 
consisting  of  ten  books,  certainly  is  something  more  than  a  little  book.  M. 
de  Bunsen  attempts,  in  a  rather  artificial  manner,  to  establish  the  identity  of 
the  "  Philosophoumena  "  with  the  book  known  to  Photius.  For  ourselves,  we 
share  the  opinion  of  Dcellinger  and  Wordsworth.  We  suppose  that  there 
were  two  writings  of  Hippolytus  on  the  same  subject  ;  the  one  more  exten- 
sive, which  would  be  the  "  Philosophoumena,"  the  other  an  abridgment  of 
the  same,  which  would  be  the  (3ifi\iddpiov  of  Photius.  This  is  not  a  mere 
baseless  supposition.  There  is  a  solid  foundation  for  it  in  our  manuscript 
itself,  for  we  read  in  the  introduction  that  the  "author  had  already  treated 
of  the  various  heresies  in  a  more  concise  manner."  +  Can  there  be  any  reason 
to  doubt  that  this  shorter  treatise  is  precisely  that  referred  to  by  Photius? 
We  know  that  Hippolytus  wrote  on  the  same  heresies  treated  in  the 
"Philosophoumena,"  that  he  did  so  in  the  same  spirit — the  spirit  of 
Irenxus — and  yet  further,  that  he  arranged  them  in  the  same  order.  The 
author  of  the  "  Philosophoumena,"  on  his  part,  states  that  he  had  written  a 
book  on  the  same  subject,  but  shorter.  It  is  evident  that  this  coincidence 
amounts  to  a  proof. 

3rd.  The  statue  of  Hippolytus  furnishes  us  with  one  last  and  still  more 
decisive  proof.     We  have  said  that  the  list  of  the  works  of  the  illustrious 

*   IIpoc  airaaciQ  rdr  aipiotic.     (Eusebius,  "  H.  E.,"  VI.  xxii.) 

f  "  Heresies,"  xi.  33. 

J  Qp  Kai  TTciXai  furpiwg  to.   £oy/mra  l^tGefiara.     ("Phil.,"  p.  2.) 


64O  THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

teacher  is  engraved  on  his  episcopal  chair.  Among  them  is  one  entitled, 
"  On  the  Universe,"  Trtpi  tov  ttuvtoq.  Now,  the  author  of  the  "  Philoso- 
phoumena  "  slates  that  he  had  written  a  treatise  on  the  Universe,  ictpi  tov 
ttcivtoq.  "  Those  who  desire  it,"  he  says,  "  may  find  fuller  developments 
of  this  subject  in  our  treatise  on  the  essence  of  the  Universe."*  The 
"  l'hiiosophoumena"  tells  us,  then,  that  their  author  wrote  a  treatise  on  the 
Universe.  This  treatise  on. the  Universe  is  placed  in  the  list  of  the  writings 
of  Hippolytus  inscribed  on  his  statue.  Is  it  not  then  patent  that  the 
"  Philosophoumena  "  is  his  also  ?  f  ' 

The  demonstration  appears  to  us  irresistible,  and  in  the  objections  urged 
against  it  we  see  no  real  force.  The  silence  of  historians  upon  the  internal 
crisis  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is  not  strange,  if  we  remember  that  these 
writers  all  belonged  to  the  Eastern  Church,  which  was  still  of  the  most 
importance.  Nor  are  they  indeed  entirely  silent,  for  Theodoret  speaks  of 
the  heresy  of  Callisthus.  Then  the  crisis  was  of  short  duration.  The 
martyrdom  of  Callisthus  obliterated  his  faults.  The  disappearance  of  the 
writing  of  Hippolytus  was  not  total.  Theodoret  was  acquainted  with  a 
portion  of  it.  We  have  confined  ourselves  to  this  question  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  manuscripts,  for  we  do  not  wish  to  avail  ourselves,  like  our 
adversaries,  of  doubtful  documents. 

*  JTcpt  ri}Q  tov  ttcivtoq  ovaictQ.  {"  Phil.,"  p.  334.)  In  opposition  to  this,  is 
adduced  the  testimony  of  Photius,  that  this  treatise  on  the  Universe  was  by 
Caius  ;  but  we  have  already  seen  in  what  vague  and  inconclusive  terms  he 
speaks  on  the  subject.     (Seep.  18.) 

f  We  may  allude  to  a  few  more  of  the  objections  urged  by  M.  l'Abbe  Cruice. 
Heasserts  that  the  title  I  Itpi  tov  7ravTO^  is  too  vague  to  warrant  the  inference  that 
it  refers  to  the  same  work  mentioned  on  the  statue,  especially  as  the  title  here 
is  more  complete,  and  contains  an  allusion  to  Plato.  Hut  how  could  a  man  so 
well  versed  as  the  author  of  the  "Philosophoumena"  in  ancient  philosophy, 
have  spoken  of  the  essence  of  the  universe  without  taking  up  and  opposing 
Platonist  ideas,  of  which  he  treats  so  much  throughout  his  work?  M.  Cruice 
lays  especial  stress  in  his  argument,  on  the  differences  between  Hie  writing 
spoken  of  by  Photius  and  our  manuscript  ;  but  our  supposition,  that  there  were 
two  analogous  writings  of  the  same  author,  obviates  these  objections.  M.  l'Abbe 
Cruice  finally  urges  what  he  describes  as  the  poverty  of  the  book,  in  his  view 
nothing  but  a  miserable  compilation.  It  is  needless  to  discuss  such  an  estimate 
as  this. 


INDEX     OF     SUBJECTS. 


Abandoning  the  gods,  The  Chris- 
tians charged  with,  151. 

Adrian,  his  policy  towards  the 
Christians,  102 ;  the  first  apology 
written  in  his  reign,  103 ;  his 
decree  against  Judaism,  104. 

Africa,  Church  in,  33. 

Africans,  Character  of  the,  33 ;  their 
religion,  34. 

Alexander  united  with  Narcissus  in 
the  episcopate  of  Rome,  264. 

Alexander  Severus,  his  early  train- 
ing, 167 ;  sets  up  a  statue  to  Christ, 
168  ;  prefers  Christians  to  tavern- 
keepers,  169. 

Alexandria,  persecutions  at,  under 
Severus,  158;  under  Decius,  178, 
184  ;  the  home  of  letters,  267  ; 
Church  of,  attached  great  impor- 
tance to  symbols,  266 ;  predis- 
posed to  Gnosticism,  267  ;  has 
many  philosophers,  267 ;  Chris- 
tian worship  at,  285. 

Almsgiving,  Cyprian  on,  195. 

Ambrose,  his  connection  with  Ori- 
gen,  304. 

Ammonius  Saccas,  299. 

Anicetus,  bishop  of  Rome,  237. 

Antioch,  Church  of,  25,  26. 

Antoninus  Pius,  his  character,  106  ; 
issues  a  decree  favourable  to 
Christianity,  113. 

Apologies  of  Christianity,  first  writ- 
ten, 103 ;  of  Clement,  540-566  ; 
Clement,  the  founder  of,  565  ;  of 
Justin  Martyr,  107,  127-129;  five 
presented  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  124; 
of  Melito,  124,  530;  of  Cyprian  of 
Athenagoras,  125,  240;  of  Ter- 
tullian,  149,  150;  of  Arnobius, 
605-627;  of  Quadratus,  236;  of 
Origen,  566. 

Apollinaris,  bishop  of  Hieropolis, 
240. 


Apollonius  of  Tyana,  his  doctrine 
and  disciples,  513;  imitates 
Christ,  314  ;  simply  a  magician, 
518. 

Apostates,  sometimes  only  apparent, 
91 ;  their  inward  agony,  92 ;  some- 
times commit  suicide,  93. 

Apostle  of  cultivated  Greece,  Cle- 
ment, the,  562. 

Apostolic  Fathers,  great  historic 
characters,  216. 

Aristides,  one  of  the  first  apologists, 
236. 

Armenia,  Church  in,  27. 

Arnobius,  his  character  and  writings, 
438,   439  ;  his  Apology,  605-627. 

Attack  on  Christianity,  The,  440-525. 

Athenagoras,  Apology  of,  125,  240. 

Aurelius,  his  character,  114;  troubles 
in  his  reign,  115;  drifts  with  the 
popular  current,  1 16;  secret  of  his 
antagonism  to  Christianity,  116, 
122;  his  ideal,  117;  natural  se- 
quence his-  sole  divinity,  118; 
prejudice  against  the  doctrine  of 
redemption,  120;  his  pride,  121  ; 
his  pantheism,  122. 

Aurelian  declines  to  interfere  on  a 
religious  question,  199. 

Beryl,  bishop  of  Bostra,  led  back  to 
the  Faith,  323. 

Blandina,  Martyrdom  of,  132. 

Brahmins  of  the  West,  The  Druids,  47. 

Breadth  of  view  a  source  of  appre- 
hension to  the  timid,  546. 

Britain  receives  Christianity,  53. 

Bourges,  Church  of,  52. 

Coecilius  (of  Minutius  Felix)  not  con- 
si  si (.-nt  with  himself,  444;  ill  ac- 
quainted with  the  doctrines  of  the 
Christians,  446;  regards  suffering 
as  a  curse,  448. 


642 


THE    EARLY    YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 


Csecilius  the  instrument  of  Cyprian's 
conversion,  417. 

Caius,  the  theologian,  366-370. 

Callisthus,  leader  of  the  hierarchical 
party,  301 ;  his  controversy  with 
Hippolytus,  364;  once  a  slave  and 
defaulter,  370;  his  craftiness,  37 1; 
his  death,  372. 

Captivity  stimulates  the  courage  of 
the  Christians,  82. 

Caracalla,  his  character,  162;  respite 
to  the  Church  under,  162. 

Carthage,  34,  35 ;  persecution  at, 
185  ;  pestilence  in,  190;  origin  of 
the  Church  of,  36-38;  its  character, 

39- 
Carthaginians,  Character  of  the,  36, 

374-378. 

Catechists,  School  of,  268. 

Celsus,  Origen  decides  to  reply  to, 
326 ;  his  attack  on  Christianity ; 
475 ;  his  system,  476 ;  sees  the 
favourable  points  for  attack,  478  ; 
his  hatred,  479. 

Chapel  preferred  to  a  tavern,  169. 

Charges  brought  against  the  Chris- 
tians, 1 5 1- 1 56. 

Christ,  Statue  of,  set  up  by  Severus, 
168. 

Christians,  their  position  in  the 
Roman  Empire,  69;  their  rela- 
tions to  pagan  feasts,  70;  their 
social  relations,  70  ;  public  life, 
72  ;  in  war,  73-75 ;  their  family 
affection,  85  ;  before  the  judgment, 
86-90  ;  compelled  to  work  in  the 
mines,  196;  become  officers  of  the 
palace,  202 ;  charges  against, 
examined,  151-157;  accused  of 
belonging  to  no  nation,  491. 

Christianity  in  the  second  century, 
I,  2  ;  influence  of,  9  ;  charges 
against,  9  ;  its  adaptation  to  the 
people,  12;  systematic  exposition 
of,  23 ;  progress  of,  in  Asia,  24 ; 
in  Palestine,  25  ;  in  Iberia,  28 ; 
in  Persia,  29;  in  India,  31;  in 
Greece,  32 ;  the  attack  on,  440- 
525 ;  charged  with  showing  a 
predilection  for  men  of  vicious 
lives,  492  ;  objected  to  because 
not  original,  496  ;  the  defence  of, 


526-627  ;  its  glory  that  it  is  mind- 
ful of  the  destitute,  572;  meets 
the  true  needs  of  the  soul,  579  ; 
exalts  the  dignity  of  human 
nature,  583. 

Christian  missions,  Character  and 
method  of,  1-24;  remarkable  suc- 
cesses of,  3 ;  obstacles  to,  4. 

Church,  The,  a  missionary  society, 
19;  progress  of,  before  the  per- 
secution of  Trajan,  98  ;  heresy  in, 
135;  becomes  prudent,  146;  de- 
cline of,  178;  re-admission  into, 
181 ;  enjoys  repose  under  the 
thirty  tyrants,  199;  not  composed 
entirely  of  outcasts,  573. 

Church,  The,  of  Alexandria,  its  ori- 
gin, 36-38  ;  its  character,  39  ;  dur- 
ing pestilence,  190;  of  Africa,  33; 
of  Armenia,  27 ;  of  Britain,  53 ; 
of  Bourges,  52;  of  Corinth,  Cle- 
ment's letter  to,  220 ;  date  of 
Epistle  to  Corinth,  629;  of  Ger- 
many, 54-65  ;  of  Greece,  32,  265  ; 
of  Italy,  origin  of,  40 ;  of  Lyons, 
origin  of,  41 ;  affected  by  Mon- 
tanism,  255;  of  Palestine,  favour- 
able to  Origen,  315;  of  Rome, 
origin  of,  40  ;  composed  of  all 
classes,  41  ;  of  the  Judaic  type, 
238;  an  Apostolic  Church,  .256; 
Origen  visits,  300,  301 ;  of  Spain, 
origin  of,  39. 

Clement  (of  Rome)  personally  ac- 
quainted with  the  apostles,  218; 
his  letter  to  the  Church  of  Corinth, 
220-221,  629;  his  piety,  222. 

Clement  (of  Alexandria)  the  disciple 
of  Pantoenus,  272 ;  his  passion  for 
philosophy,  273;  his  disinterest- 
edness, 275  ;  his  teaching,  276  ; 
his  style,  277;  his  writings,  278; 
leaves  Alexandria,  280 ;  hifj  death, 
281 ;  apology  of,  540-566. 

Commodus,  a  tyrant  to  the  Chris- 
tians, 134. 

Confessors,  The,  courage  of,  94; 
their  memory  revered,  95,  96;  Cy- 
prian's counsel  to,  196. 

Conscience,  Appeal  should  be  made 
to,  before  the  Scriptures,  596- 
598. 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


643 


Constantine  espouses  the  now  reli- 
gion, 214. 

Cornelius  congratulated  on  his  fide- 
lity, iSS,  189. 

Crimes,  infamous,  The  Christians 
charged  with,  151. 

Cyprian  (Bishop  of  Carthage),  his 
vision,  177;  his  counsel  to  the 
confessors,  186;  his  answer  to 
the  pagan  theory  of  the  pestilence, 
190-192;  declares  himself  a  dis- 
ciple of  Tertullian,  414  ;  his  father, 
415  ;  his  judgment  upon  his  pagan 
life,  416;  his  conversion,  417; 
his  joy  on  being  admitted  to  the 
Church,  418;  his  writings,  421; 
raised  to  the  bishopric,  422;  the 
best  representative  of  the  hier- 
archical party,  424 ;  his  talent  for 
governing,  424;  his  charity,  426; 
his  affection  and  sagacity,  428 ; 
his  eloquence,  430 ;  his  conflicts, 
432  ;  warned  of  his  end,  435  ;  be- 
fore the  tribunal,  437 ;  beheaded, 
438. 

Decius,  Persecution  under,  176; 
decree  of,  179. 

Decline  of  the  Churches,  178. 

Decree  of  Antoninus  Pius,  113;  of 
Gallienus,  198;  of  Galerius,  213; 
of  Valerian,  196;  of  Decius,  an 
aggravation  of  Trajan's,  1 79. 

Defence  of  Christianity,  440-627. 

Demetrius  recalls  Origen  from  Cae- 
sarea,  309  ;  takes  violent  measures 
against  Origen,  31 1 ;  his  character, 

3H. 

Demons,  The  doctrine  of,  498. 

Dioclesian,  a  profound  politician, 
200;  patronises  new  ideas,  201; 
his  edict,  207 ;  the  fire  in  his 
palace,  209 ;  issues  three  new 
edicts,  210;  his  wife  and  daughters 
compelled  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 
211. 

Dionysius  (Bishop  of  Alexandria), 
disciple  of  Origen,  342;  his  cha- 
racter, 343,  350  ;  resists  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  348  ;  his  writings,  348. 

Dionysius  (Bishop  of  Corinth),  a 
representative  of  Catholicity,  239. 


Disabilities  of  the  Christians,  77,  78. 

Discussions,  Public,  22;  in  the  open 
air,  23. 

Donatist  dispute,  Rise  of  the,  209. 

J  lorotheus  rises  to  the  highest  offices 
in  the  court,  202;  strangled,  211. 

Dreams  and  visions  common  with 
the  martyrs,  83. 

Druidism,  48;  superior  to  Brahmin- 
ism,  50. 

Druids,  The,  the  Brahmins  of  the 
West,  47;  priesthood  among  the, 
49- 

Eastern  Church,  different  from  the 
Western,  43,  360. 

Ecclesiastical  writers  before  Origen, 
261. 

Edict  of  Gallienus,  first  of  toleration, 
198;  of  Galerius,  an  amazing 
monument  of  history,  213;  of 
Valerian,  196. 

Egypt,  the  land  of  magic  and  mys- 
tery, 141 ;  Severus  brought  under 
the  influence  of  the  priests  of, 
141. 

Epiphanes  slanders  the  reputation 
of  Origen,  318. 

Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corin- 
thians, date  of  the  (Note  A),  629. 

Eusebius,  his  conduct  during  the 
pestilence  at  Alexandria,  350; 
raised  to  the  See  of  Laodicea,  350. 

Fabinus,    Bishop,    his    martyrdom, 

182,  183. 
Faith,    in   relation    to   reason     and 

science,  549-554 ;  not  passive,  550 ; 

has  a  moral  cause,   552  ;    courts 

inquiry,  577,  578. 
Fall,  The,  rejected  by  Celsus,  500  ; 

implies  a  first  estate  of  glory,  611. 
Fanaticism  of  the  Montanists,  140. 
Fatalism,  the  foundation  01  Hellenic 

paganism,  462. 
Fathers  of  the  Church  in  the  second 

century,   216-260;  the  Apostolic, 

216-236;    under   the    Antonines, 

236-260. 
Fathers  of  the  Eastern  Church,  from 

end  of  second  century  to  Constan- 

tine,  261-359. 


644 


THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


Felix  (Minutius),  his  writings,  367- 

442. 
First  principles  beyond  reason,  557. 
Free  inquiry  defended,  547. 

.Galerius,  the  recognised  head  of  the 
pagan  party,  203  ;  his  edict  of 
toleration,  213. 

Gallienus  issues  the  first  edict  of 
toleration,  198. 

Gallus,  Persecution  decreed  by,  188. 

Gaul,  Divisions  of,  44 ;  character  of 
the  people  of,  45 ;  Druidical  wor- 
ship in,  46-48. 

Germany  receives  Christianity,  54  ; 
respect  of  the  people  for  women, 
55;  their  love  of  liberty,  55,  56; 
invade  Rome,  57;  their  religion, 
58-63 ;  prepared  to  receive  the 
Gospel,  64,  65. 

Gnostics,  The,  32. 

Gnostic  heresy,  The,  135,  409;  Alex- 
andria predisposed  to  the,  267. 

Grace,  The  idea  of,  obnoxious  to 
Aurelius,  1 19. 

Greece,  Missions  in,  32. 

Greek  Church,  The,  265. 

Gregory  (Thaumaturgus),  a  disciple 
of  Origen,  333 ;  his  character  and 
views,  355. 

Hegesippus,  his  mental  character, 
237 ;  attached  importance  to  tra- 
dition, 238. 

Heliogabalus,  his  reign,  165 ;  con- 
founds the  religion  of  the  Jews, 
Samaritans,  and  Christians,  167. 

Heraclas,  the  disciple  of  Origen,  344. 

Heresy  in  Gaul,  257. 

Heretics,  Compassion  of  Ignatius  for 
the,  258. 

Hierarchy  consolidated  at  Rome, 
170. 

Hierarchical  party,  The,  Callisthus, 
its  leader,  301. 

Hippolytus,  Treatise  of,  170;  the 
first  celebrated  preacher  of  the 
West,  361  ;  his  writings,  363;  his 
controversy  with  Callisthus,  364; 
his  martyrdom,  366  ;  authenticity 
of  the  "Philosophoumena,"  635- 
640. 


Humiliation  of  Christ,  part  of  the 
Divine  plan,  599. 

Iberia,  Missions  in,  28  ;  cure  of 
king's  son  in,  29. 

Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  223  ; 
three  of  the  Epistles  genuine,  223, 
630-634  ;  condemned  to  death, 
225,  226  ;  his  first  letter  to  Poly- 
carp,  226 ;  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  229  ;  to  the  Ephesians, 
230  ;  the  victim  of  Lucian's  rail- 
lery, 232. 

India,  Missions  in,  31. 

Inquiry,  Free,  advocated,  547. 

Italy,  Origin  of  the  Churches  in,  40. 

Irenseus,  his  character,  252  ;  the 
greatest  bishop  of  the  second 
century,  253  ;  exaggerated  the 
importance  of  oral  tradition,  254  ; 
his  controversy  with  Gnosticism, 
254  ;  outline  of  his  treatise  against 
heresies,  257-259;  his  compassion 
for  the  heretics,  258  ;  his  martyr- 
dom, 259. 

Jews,  the,  Opposition  of,  to  Chris- 
tianity, 449  ;  types  of  unintelligent 
conservatism,  480  ;  confounded 
with  Christians,  167  ;  unbelief  of, 
more  culpable  than  that  of  the 
pagans,  570. 

Judseo-Christianity  in  the  Church, 
in  new  forms,  217. 

Judgment-seat,  The  Christian  before 
the,  86-90. 

Juliana  receives  Origen,  320. 

Justin  Martyr,  born  of  a  pagan 
family,  243  ;  his  conversion,  21, 
246  ;  his  apology,  107  ;  deals 
with  the  accusations  against  the 
Christians,  109  ;  enters  too  much 
into  detail,  112  ;  his  apology  to 
Marcus  Aurelius,  127-129 ;  at- 
tracted by  the  austerity  of  the 
Stoics,  244  ;  before  the  tribunal, 
250;  theological  views  not  original, 
251. 

Legio   Futminatrix,    Story   of    the, 

129. 
Leonides,  the  father  of  Origen,  284 ; 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


645 


thrown    into    prison,     287  ;     his 
martyrdom,  280. 

Letters  of  Ignatius,  223,  630-634. 

Logic,  the  morality  of  language,  545. 

Lucian  (of  Samosata),  compared  with 
Porphyry,  451  ;  his  opinions  on 
religion,  451  ;  his  acquaintance 
with  his  age,  454  ;  impurity  of  his 
writings,  455  ;  aims  to  subvert 
greatness,  456  ;  his  "  Dialogues 
of  the  Dead,"  456;  "Dialogues 
of  the  Gods,"  457  ;  ridicules  philo- 
sophy, 463-467  ;  his  moderation, 
467  ;  his  "Peregrinus,"  468  ;  com- 
bines impartiality  and  injustice, 
469. 

Lyons,  the  Church  of,  Origin  of, 
41  ;  letter  of,  to  the  Church  of 
Asia  Minor,  130;  affected  by 
Montanism,  255. 

Macrinus,  his  brief  reign,  165. 

Mammsea  sends  for  Origen,  303. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  his  character,  1 14 
(see  Aurelius). 

Marriage,  mixed,  Dangers  of,  72. 

Martyrdom,  Views  of  Clement  on, 
281  ;  of  Blandina,  132  ;  of  Fa- 
binus,  182,  183  ;  of  Hippolytus, 
366  ;  of  Ignatius,  225,  226  ;  of 
Irenaeus,  259  ;  of  Justin  Martyr, 
25 1  ;  of  Leonides,  288  ;  of  Origen, 
340  ;  of  Perpetua,  160  ;  of  Spera- 
tus,  160;  of  Symphorian,  133. 

Maximin  predisposed  to  violence, 
171  ;  persecutes  the  bishops,  1 71. 

Melito  (of  Sardis),  his  apology,  124  , 
his  character  and  writings,  241, 
242. 

Methodius  charges  Origen  with 
heresy,  357. 

Millenarian  controversy,  345. 

Miracles  continued  in  the  Church, 
14  ;  less  frequent,  15  ;  wrought 
chiefly  on  demoniacs,  1 6- 1 8  ;  dif- 
ference between,  and  magic,  384. 

Missionaries,  First,  not  specially 
trained,  20  ;  maligned,  573  ;  de- 
fended by  Origen,  574. 

Missions,  Christian,  character  of, 
1-24  ;  successes  of,  3  ;  obstacles 
to,  4. 


Montanism,    Appearance   of,    136  ; 

affects  the  Church  at  Lyons,  255. 
Montanists,  Fanaticism  of  the,  140; 

Tertullian  belonged  to  the,  400. 

Narcissus,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
263  ;  united  with  Alexander  in 
the  bishopric,  264. 

Natural,  The  religion  of  nature  des- 
troys all  that  is,  166. 

Natural  sequence  the  divinity  of 
Aurelius,  118. 

Neo-Platonism,  521. 

Nicsea,  Council  of,  25. 

Nicomedia,  Christian  temple  of, 
destroyed  by  the  pagans,  206. 

Novatus,  his  system,  347. 

Origen  lived  in  an  intermediate 
age,  282  ;  birth,  283  ;  yearning 
for  martyrdom,  287  ;  refuses  to 
worship  with  Paul,  288  ;  gives 
lessons  in  grammar,  289  ;  suc- 
ceeds Clement  as  catechist,  290  ; 
his  thirst  for  knowledge,  292  ; 
his  asceticism,  293,  294  ;  mutilates 
his  body,  297  ;  belongs  to  the 
liberal  party,  301  ;  his  friendship 
with  Ambrose,  304;  his  exegeti- 
cal  labours,  305  ;  preaches  at 
Coesarea,  309  ;  is  consecrated  a 
priest,  310  ;  excluded  from  the 
Church  of  Alexandria,  313  ;  his 
behaviour  under  his  trial,  315  ; 
flees  to  Cappadocia,  320  ;  leads 
Beryl  back  to  the  Faith,  323  ; 
fitted  for  writing  his  great  work, 
325  ;  his  mental  qualities,  327  ; 
tendency  to  idealise,  329  ;  con- 
scientious, 330  ;  as  a  master 
and  professor,  333  ;  his  personal 
influence,  335  ;  his  manner  ot 
preaching,  337  ;  cast  into  prison, 
339;  his  death,  340;  his  disciples, 
341  ;  charge  of  heresy,  357. 

Pagan  society  had  no  respect  for 
human  nature,  81. 

Pagans,  Ceremonies  of  the,  191  ; 
the  cultivated,  442  ;  under  Dio- 
clesian,  202  ;  Galerius,  their  re- 
cognised head,  203. 


646 


THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


Paganism,  Hellenic,  founded  on 
Fatalism,  462. 

Palestine,  The  Churches  of,  favour- 
able to  Origen,  315. 

Pamphylus,  Bishop  of  Cxsarea, 
defends  Origen,  357,  358. 

Pantsenus,  his  history,  270 ;  his 
eloquence,  27 1. 

Paul  (the  heretic),  Origen  refuses  to 
worship  with,  288. 

"  Peregrinus  "  (of  Lucian),  468. 

Perpetua,  her  martyrdom,  86,  160. 

Persecutions  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries,  their  character,  67  ; 
never  ceased  before  Constantine, 
67,  68  ;  under  Trajan,  98  ;  how 
conducted,  102  ;  under  Severus, 
158  ;  under  Maximin,  1 71  ;  the 
last  general,  200  ;  eight  distinct, 

215- 

Persia,  Missions  in,  29,  30. 

Pestilence  at  Carthage,  190 ;  at 
Alexandria,  350. 

Philip  (the  Arabian),  at  first  favour- 
able to  Christianity,  175,  325  ; 
never  embraced  the  Faith,  1 76. 

Philosophers,  The  polemics  of  the, 

451. 

"  Philosophoumena,"Onthe  authen- 
ticity of  the,  635,  640. 

Philosophic  faculty,  The,  the  gift 
of  God,  562. 

Pierius  of  Alexandria,  35 1. 

Plato,  The  doctrines  of,  and  Jesus 
Christ  not  contrary,  535. 

Platonism  considered  a  preparation 
for  Christianity,  247. 

Pliny,  Letters  between,  and  Trajan, 
100,  224. 

Polemics  of  the  philosophers,  455. 

Polycarp,  Letters  of  Ignatius  to, 
226 ;  the  disciple  of  St.  John, 
232 ;  fitted  for  the  transition 
period,  233  ;  his  Epistle,  234 ; 
meets  Marcion  at  Rome,  235. 

Polycrates  (of  Ephesus),  242. 

Porphyry  meets  with  Origen,  299  ; 
his  principal  objections  against 
Christianity,  524. 

Pride,  an  obstacle  to  man's  restora- 
tion, 610. 

Pothinus  before  the  magistrate,  132. 


Preaching,  Origen's  manner  of,  337. 
Priests,    Pagan,  deceive  the  people, 

77- 
Primacy,    The,  not    recognised    by 

Ignatius,  259. 
Principles,  First,  beyond  the  reason, 

557- 
Proculus  cures  the  Emperor,  140. 
Progress  of  the  Church  in  Asia,  24  ; 

in  Asia  Minor,  26. 
Propagation    of    the    Gospel,    The 

means  employed  in,  19. 
Public  life,  Dangers  to  the  Christian 

in, 72. 

Quadratus  one  of  the  first  Apolo- 
gists, 236. 

Re-admission  into  the  Church,  181. 

Reason,  Province  of,  545  ;  and 
faith,  549. 

Rebellion,  The  Christians  charged 
with,  152. 

Redemption,  The  doctrine  of,  con- 
sidered absurd  by  Aurelius,  120. 

Revelation,  Difference  between,  and 
the  writings  which  contain  it,  559. 

Roman  Empire,  Position  of  a  Chris- 
tian in  the,  69-76. 

Rome,  the  Church  of,  Origin  of, 
40  ;  composed  of  all  classes,  41  ; 
corresponded  to  the  Judaic  type, 
238  ;  considered  Apostolic,  256  ; 
Origen  visits,  300,  301. 

Sabellius,  347,  356. 

Saturnin,  The  heresy  of,  135. 

Science  and  faith,  549. 

Scorn  of  philosophy,  a  fatal  moral 

symptom,  467. 
Scourges,    The    Christians   charged 

with  bringing,  upon  the  empire, 

152. 
Scriptures,  Copies  of  the,  rare,  13  ; 

style  of,  below  the  requirement  of 

a  refined  taste,  194  ;  the  authority 

of,  599- 
Second  century,  Christianity  in  the, 

2  ;  corruptions  of  society  in  the,  6. 
Sequence,  Natural,  the  sole  divinity 

of  Aurelius,  118. 
Serapion,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  241. 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


647 


Severus  at  first  favourable  to  the 
Christians,  139  ;  changes  towards 
them,  140  ;  comes  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Egyptian  priests, 
141  ;  revives  persecution,  142. 

Sixtus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  237. 

Smyrna,  Persecution  severe  in,  130. 

Society  in  the  second  century, 
corrupt,  6  ;  its  fanaticism,  8. 

Soldier,  the  Christian,  Position  of, 
73  ;  forbidden  the  crown  ot  laurel, 

H5- 

Soter,  Bishop  of  Rome,  237. 

Spain,  Origin  of  the  Church  of,  39. 

Speratus,  The  martyrdom  of,  160. 

Stoicism,  antagonistic  to  Christianity, 
116  ;  Roman  Pharisaism,  116. 

Suicide,  Apostates  sometimes  com- 
mitted, 93  ;  an  impious  death, 
127. 

Sufferings  not  a  mark  of  Divine 
anger,  12S  ;  conformable  to  the 
will  of  God,  147  ;  cheerfully 
accepted,  155  ;  regarded  by  the 
heathens  as  a  curse,  448. 

Symphorian,  Martyrdom  of,  133. 

Syrian  Princes,  The,  137. 

Tavern-keeper  decreed  to  give  way 
to  Christian  worshippers,  169. 

Tertullian,  his  address  to  the  martyrs, 
138;  condemns  "fleeing  from 
persecution,"  143  ;  forbids  to  the 
Christian  soldier  the  crown  of 
laurel,  145  ;  his  treatise  against 
the  Gnostics,  146  ;  defects  of  his 
writings,  149  ;  his  Apology,  150  ; 
his  letter  to  Scapula,  163  ;  his 
great  influence,  375  ;  his  conver- 
sion, 379  ;  moderation  to  him 
impossible,  381  ;  his  style,  382  ; 
becomes  a  priest,  383  ;  his 
writings,  384-409  ;  his  modes  of 
argument,  389  ;  his  power  of 
irony,  393  ;  his  temptation  to  the 


indulgence  of  passion,  394  ;  a 
Montanist,  400;  a  materialist, 
411  ;  his  polemical  writings,  409  ; 
contrasted  with  Origen,  413. 

Theognostus,  catechist  at  Alexan- 
dria, 351. 

Theonas,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  352. 

Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  240. 

Tradition  regarded  as  the  rule  of 
Faith,  258. 

Tradilorest  209. 

Trajan,  Persecution  under,  98  ;  his 
character,  99  ;  letters  between, 
and  Pliny,  100,  101. 

Trial,  benefits  of,  Cyprian  on,  193. 

Tribunal,  The  Christian  before  the, 
86-90  ;  Pothinus  before  the,  132  ; 
Justin  Martyr  before  the,  250. 

Tyranny,  the  expression  of  a  two- 
fold meanness,  79. 

Valentine,  Heresy  of,  135. 

Valerian  at  first  favourable  to  the 
Christians,  196  ;  decrees  persecu- 
tion, 196. 

Vettius  Epagathus  defends  his  breth- 
ren, 131. 

Victor,  Bishop  of  Rome,  237-368. 

Visions  common  with  the  martyrs, 
S3- 

War,  Position  of  the  Christian  sol- 
dier in,  73. 

Western  Church  different  from  the 
Eastern,  43,  360. 

Western  Gaul  receives  the  Gospel, 

51- 
Will,  The,  important  in  belief,  551. 
Withdrawing    from     common    life, 

The  Christians  charged  with,  154. 
Word,  The,  wisdom  and  reason,  532. 

Zephyrinus,     his     character,    369  ; 

the  tool  of  Callisthus,  369. 
Zoroaster,  Teaching  of,  30. 


INDEX     OF     AUTHORS 


QUOTED  OR  REFERRED  TO,  AND  OF  THE 


SUBJECTS  OF  QUOTATION  OR  REFERENCE. 


Amedee,  Thierry.  "Histoiredes 
Gaulois."  On  the  religion  of  Gaul, 
46,  52. 

Apuleius.  "Metamorph."  On 
Neo-Platonism,  521. 

Arnobius.  "Adv.  Gentes."  His 
reply  to  the  charges  against  the 
Christians,  606  (Ibid.)  Degrades 
human  nature,  607.  The  idea 
of  God  not  the  prerogative  of 
man,  608.  Exalts  only  those  divine 
attributes  that  are  incommunicable, 
609.  The  existence  of  evil  in  the 
world,  611.  Man  at  the  foot  of 
the  scale  of  being,  612.  The  arts 
not  heavenly  gifts,  613.  His  pa- 
rody of  Plato's  "Cave,"  614.  The 
world  makes  man  what  he  is,  615. 
The  earth  no  gainer  by  the  exis- 
tence of  man,  616.  Humanity 
dishonours  the  world  by  its  crimes, 
617.  The  work  of  Christ  not  a 
restoration,  but  a  new  creation, 
619.  Man  has  no  power  to  re- 
cognise the  Divine,  620.  Relies 
on  the  testimony  of  the   senses, 

623.  He   destroys   the  beautiful 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel  miracles, 

624.  Three  proofs  for  the  reality 
of  the  miracles,  625. 

Augustine.  "Epist."  On  the 
immediate  successor  of  Peter,  219. 
— "  Serin."  Cyprian  employs  his 
eloquence  in  defence  of  the  faith, 
420.  — ' '  Epist. "  Porphyry's  prin- 
cipal objections  against  Christian- 
ity, 525. 


Aurelius,  Marcus.  "  Medita- 
tions." Portrait  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  106.  Acquiescence  in  the 
decrees  of  destiny,  1 18, 1 19.  Stoic- 
ism, 120.  Self-satisfaction,  121. 
Depreciates  the  conscience,  122. 

Baur.  C~i  the  question  of  a  second 
Celsus,  477.  The-  fragments  of 
Celsus'  writings,  478.  The  inten- 
tion of  Philostratus  in  writing  the 
"Life  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana," 
512.  On  the  polemics  of  Porphyry 
against  Christianity,  524.  On  the 
genuineness  of  the  Epistles  of  Igna- 
tius, 634.  Ascribes  the  "  Philo- 
sophoumena"  to  Caius,  637. 

Bede.  "History."  On  the  early 
history  of  Christianity  in  England, 

54- 
Bunsen.  "Gott  inder  Geschichte." 
On  the  love  of  liberty  among  the 
Gauls,  56. — "Ignatius  und  seine 
Zeit."  On  the  integrity  of  Poly- 
carp's  letter  to  the  Philippians, 
233.  Bishops  of  towns  adjacent 
to  Rome  had  seats  in  the  council 
of  the  Central  Church,  361.  The 
martyrdom  of  Hippolytus,  366. 
— "Hippolytus."  Ascribes  "Let- 
ter of  Diognetes"  to  Marcion,  592. 
— "  Antenicrena."  On  the  genu- 
ineness of  the  Epistles  of  Igna- 
tius, 631  (Note  B).  . 

Cesar.  "De  Bell.  Gall."  On  the 
religion  of  the  Gauls,  59. 


INDEX    OF   AUTHORS. 


649 


CHRVSOSTOM.  "Oratio  quod  ( )hris- 
tusDeus."  On  thespread  of  Chris- 
tianity to  Britain.  53< 

Clement  of  Alexandria.   "Pro- 

trept."  On  the  universal  corrup- 
tion of  society,  6. — "Psedagog." 

On  the  illumination  of  the  soul,  1 1. 
— "Stromata."  On  the  teaching 
of  Pantaenus,  271  (Ibid.)  On  ad- 
apting teaching  to  the  condition  of 
the  hearers,  275  (Ibid.)  Scorns 
beauty  of  language,  276  (Ibid.) 
Philosophy  a  creature  of  Divine 
providence,  280 (Ibid.)  His  mode- 
rate views  on  martyrdom,  281. 
The  Divine  in  us  the  peculiar  cha- 
racter of  the  moral  creature,  541. 
— "  Protrept."  The  music  of  the 
universe,  542. — "Strom."  The 
province  of  reason,  545  (Ibid.) 
Science  and  Christianity,  546 
(Ibid.)  Mental  culture,  547  (Ibid.) 
First  causes  above  demonstra- 
tion, 548  (Ibid.)  Intuition  of  faith 
not  merely  passive,  551  (Ibid.) 
The  province  of  the  will,  551 
(Ibid.)  Faith  has  a  moral  cause, 
552  (Ibid.)  Reason  and  faith  mani- 
festations of  the  same  moral 
power,  554  (Ibid.)  First  prin- 
ciples beyond  the  reach  of  reason- 
ing, 557.  —  "  Protrept."  Dis- 
tinguishes between  revelation  and 
the  writings  that  contain  it,  559. 
—  "  Strom."  Philosophy  a  fainter 
expression  of  the  Word  than  pro- 
phecy, 562. 

Cruice  (M.  l'Abbe).  "Philoso- 
phoumena."  Ascribes  the  "Phi- 
losophoumena"  to  Tertullian,  637, 
638,  640. 

Cureton.  On  the  genuineness  of 
the  Epistles  of  Ignatius,  631 
(Note  B). 

Cyprian.  "AdDonat."  Discus- 
sions in  the  open  air,  23. — "  Epist." 
On  the  imprisonment  of  the 
martyrs,  81,  82. — "De  Lapsis." 
On  the  readiness  of  Christians  to 
recant,  91  (Ibid.)  On  the  remorse 
of  the  apostates,  93  (Ibid.)  The 
Libellatici    considered    apostates, 


93.  On  the  courage  of  the  con- 
fessors, 94.  —  "Epist."  On  the 
re-admission  of  apostates  into  the 
Church,  181  (Ibid.)  Extols  the 
courage  of  the  confessors,  186, 
188. — "Ad  Demetr."  On  the 
persecution  in  Carthage,  190 
(Ibid.)  Pictures  the  crimes  of  the 
Pagans,  191  (Ibid.)  Appeal  to  the 
conscience  of  the  Pagans,  192. — 
"  De  Mortal."  Warns  against 
the  fear  of  death,  193. — "  De 
Opere  et  Eleemos."  On  the  ex- 
piatory virtue  of  liberality,  195. 
— "  De  Gratia  Dei."  On  his  life 
as  a  Pagan,  416.  His  joy  at  con- 
version, 419.  —  "Epist."  His 
generosity,  425  (Ibid.)  Does  no- 
thing without  the  consent  of  the 
people,  427  (Ibid.)  His  affection 
for  his  flock,  428  (Ibid.)  Fleeing 
from  persecution  Sometimes  a 
duty,  429  (Ibid.)  Address  to 
Christians  in  peril,  431  (Ibid.) 
Resolved  to  die  in  his  bishopric, 
435,  436. 

Daille.  Questions  the  genuineness 
of  the  seven  Epistles  of  Ignatius, 
630  (Note  B). 

DORNER.  "Die  Person  Christi." 
The  "Letter  to  Diognetes"  as- 
cribed to  Quadratus,  592. 

Eusebius  "  H.  E."  On  the  early 
missionaries,  20  (Ibid.)  On  the 
scruples  of  the  Christian  soldier, 
73  (Ibid.)  On  the  disabilities 
of  the  Christians,  77,  78.  On  the 
crowd  being  the  sole  executive  in 
the  condemnation  of  the  Chris- 
tian, 80.  On  the  apostates  be- 
longing to  the  higher  class,  180. 
On  the  severity  of  the  persecu- 
tions, 185.  On  the  opposition 
of  the  Pagan  party,  205.  The 
School  of  the  Catechists,  269. 
The  teaching  of  Origen  modelled 
on  that  of  Pant:enus,  270.  On 
the  mission  of  Pantsenus,  271. 
On  the  birth  and  position  of  Ori- 
gen, 283.     Origen's  seeking  a  hid- 


42 


650 


THE    EARLY   YEARS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 


den  sense  in  Scripture,  285.  Ori- 
gen,  a  pupil  of  Pantaenus  and 
Clement,  286.  Origen's  exhorta- 
tion to  his  lather  in  prison,  287. 
His  thirst  for  knowledge,  293-295. 
His  life  agreeing  with  his  teaching, 
297.  Becomes  literally  a  eunuch, 
297.  Demetrius'  jealousy  of  Ori- 
gen,  311.  His  Commentary  on 
the  Song  of  Songs,  322.  His 
Commentary  on  St.  John,  322. 
Leads  back  Beryl  to  the  Faith, 
324.  Heretics,  before  re-admission, 
required  to  make  a  full  statement 
of  former  errors,  342.  Dionysius' 
advice  to  his  elder  to  read  all  that 
comes  in  his  way,  344.  On  the 
Millenarian  controversy,  345, 
Dionysius'  opposition  to  the  as- 
sumptions of  the  hierarchy,  347. 
On  the  spuriousness  of  Clement's 
Second  Epistle,  630  (Note  A). 

Fabricius.  "Lux  Salutaris."  Con- 
version in  masses,  28. 

Gieseler.  "Church  History."  On 
the  legendary  account  of  the 
Theban  legion,  202. 

Gregory  Nazianzen.  "Orat." 
Cyprian's  contempt  for  the  world, 
419. 

Gregory  Thaumaturgus.  His 
admiration  for  Origen,  333.  Ori- 
gen's manner  of  teaching,  335. 
Admiration  and  love  of  his  dis- 
ciples for  Origen,  336. 

Gregory  of  Tours.  "Hist.  Fran- 
ciae."  On  the  Churches  of  Gaul, 
252. 

Helgenfeld.  "  Apostoliche  Vas- 
ter." On  the  date  of  Clement's 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  629 
(Note  A),  634. 

Hieronymus.  Porphyry  seeks  to 
destroy  the  credibility  of  Scrip- 
ture, 525.  Lays  stress  upon  the 
dispute  between  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  525. 

Hippolytus.  "Philos."  Relies 
solely  on  the  power  of  persuasion, 


364.  The  life  and  character  of 
Callisthus,  370-2  (Ibid.)  Reason, 
the  eye  of  the  spirit,  588. 
HCEFELE.  "Prolegom."  On  the 
date  of  Clement's  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  629  (Note  A). 

Ignatius.  "  Ad  Polycarp."  The 
militant  state  of  the  martyr- 
Church,  227. — "Ad  Roman."  A 
fanatic  desire  for  martyrdom,  229. 

Iren^eus.  "  Contra  Haeres."  On 
the  success  of  missions,  3  (Ibid.) 
Continuance  of  miracles,  14. — ■ 
"  Adver.  Haeres."  On  the  genu- 
ineness of  Polycarp's  Letter  to  the 
Philippians,  233.  —  "Contra  Hae- 
res."  The  Church  of  Rome  an 
apostolic  Church,  256  (Ibid.)  Pic- 
ture of  false  teachex"s,  257  (Ibid.) 
His  compassion  for  the  heretics, 
258. 

Jerome.  "De  Viris  Illustr."  On 
the  journey  of  Irenaeus  into  Gaul, 
255.  The  distress  of  Origen,  288. 
The  condemnation  of  Origen  pub- 
lished by  letter,  315.  Pierius 
considered  a  second  Origen,  351. 
Methodius'  writings,  357.  On 
the  works  of  St.  Hippolytus,  361. 
The  connection  of  Hippolytus 
with  Origen,  362.  Caius,  the 
first  to  suggest  doubt  as  to  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  being 
written  by  St.  Paul,  367.  The 
barbarous  style  and  puerilities  of 
Victor,  368.  Birth  of  Tertullian, 
375. — "De  Baptismo."  In  youth 
he  acquired  Greek  culture,  377. 
Made  the  gravest  questions  mat- 
ter of  jest,  377. — "  De  Viris  Il- 
lustr." Becomes  the  apostle  of 
Montanism,  397-401.— "In  Jo- 
hann."  Cyprian's  first  impres- 
sions received  from  reading  the 
Prophet  Jonah,  417. — "  De  Viris 
Illustr."     Style  of  Arnobius,  439. 

Justin  Martyr.  "  Dial,  cum 
Try  ph."  On  the  remarkable  suc- 
cesses of  Christian  missions,  3 
(Ibid.)    On    his    conversion,    21 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS. 


651 


(Ibid.)  On  public  discussions,  22. 

—  "  Apology."    On  the  dan. 

a  mixed   marriage,    72.     On   the 

accusations  against  the  Christians, 
109.  On  the  charge  of  rebellion, 
no. — "Dial,  cum  Tryph."  His 
conversion,  243-246.  Platonism, 
a  preparation  of  the  heathen  world 
for  Christianity,  247. — "Apolo- 
gia." The  Word,  wisdom  and 
reason,  532  (Ibid.)  The  doctrines  of 
Plato  and  Jesus  Christ  not  con- 
trary, 535  (Ibid.)  Greece  and 
her  philosophers,  536.  Analogy 
between  Pagan  fables  and  Gospel 
history,  537. 

LAMPRIDIUS.  "In  Heliog."  On 
the  religious  tendencies  of  Helio- 
gabalus,  167-170.  On  the  man- 
ner of  the  elections  of  priests — a 
pattern  in  the  election  of  magis- 
trates, 169. 

Lucian.  "Dialogues  of  the  Dead." 
His  raillery  of  the  Grecian  heroes, 
457-461.  Aims  a  blow  at  all 
religion,  461.  Ridicules  philo- 
sophy, 463-466.  — ' '  Peregrinus. " 
The  blind  credulity  of  the  Chris- 
tians, 470.  His  scorn  for  Chris- 
tian compassion,  472.  Parody  of 
martyrdom,  475. 

Lenain  de  Tillemont.  "  Me- 
moires."  On  conversion  in  masses, 
28.  Justin,  a  priest  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  248.  Dionysius, 
the  representative  of  Christian 
liberty,  343.  The  works  of  Hip- 
polytus,  361. 

Lenormant  (Charles).     Ascribes 

*  the  "  Philosouphoumena"  to  Ori- 
gen,  636. 

Lerius  (Vincent  de).  "Corn- 
monitor."  His  judgment  of 
the  character  of  Tertullian, 
412. 

Marcellinus.     On  the  priesthood 

among  the  Druids,  49. 
Martin    (Henri).     "  Histoire  de 

France."     On  the  ancient  religion 

of  Gaul,  48-50. 


Miller.  Ascribes  the  "  Philoso- 
phoumcna"  to  Origen,  636. 

Mil. man.  On  the  reign  of  Helio- 
gabalus,  167-201. 

Mini  rius  Felix.  "Octavius." 
Pagan  scepticism,  443  (Ibid.)  Uti- 
litarian apology  for  paganism. 
(Ibid.)  God  forsaken,  447.  The 
immortality  of  the  individual 
shocks  the  Pagan,  447.  Con- 
sidered absurd,  448. 

Mosheim.  "Com.  rerum  Christ. 
ante  Const."  On  the  miracle  of 
the  Legion,  130  (Ibid. )  On  Philip's 
conversion,  176  (Ibid.)  On  the 
Theban  legion,  202. 

Neander.  "Church  Hist."  He 
idealises  Marcus  Aurelius,  122. 
On  the  decree  of  Marcus  Aurelius, 
123. — "  Antignosticus."  On  the 
date  of  the  books  of  the  "  Stro- 
mata." — "Church  History."  On 
the  question  of  a  second  Celsus, 
476,  477  (Ibid.)  The  intention  of 
Philostratus  in  writing  the  "  Life 
of  Apollonius  of  Tyana,"  512. 

Origen.  On  the  continuance  of 
miracles,  15.  "  Contra  Celsum." 
On  the  early  missionaries,  20. — 
"Ad  Martyr."  On  the  superi- 
ority of  martyrdom  to  all  other 
deaths,  172-175. — "In  Johann." 
On  the  decline  of  piety  in  the 
Church,  178.— "In  Gen.  Horn." 
His  literal  interpretation  of  the 
precept,  "Take  no  thought  for 
the  morrow,"  295,  296.  —  "In 
Matthseum. "  Scandalised  by  what 
transpired  at  Rome,  302. — "In 
Johann."  His  reply  to  the  accu- 
sation of  writing  too  many  books, 
316  (Ibid.)  Recovers  compo- 
sure of  mind,  317. — "  Epist.  ad 
Amic."  Entertains  no  hatred  to- 
wards his  enemies,  318. — "  De 
Oratione."  Evidence  of  histhink- 
ing  upon  his  persecutions,  in  his 
writings,  320.  The  example  of 
Job,  321. — "In  Johann."  His 
sublime  conception  «f  <"Vmstian 


652 


THE    EARLY   YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


knowledge,  332. — "Contra  Cel- 
sum. "  His  readiness  for  persecu- 
tion, 338.  "InEzechiel."  Love, 
an  agony,  340  (Ibid. )  The  question 
regarding  a  second  Celsus,  476, 
477.  Celsus'  distortion  of  facts, 
478  (Ibid.)  Celsus  confounds  the 
Canonical  Gospels  with  the  Apo- 
cryphal Gospels,  481;  (Ibid.)  de- 
grades the  Virgin  Mary,  482  ;  the 
Divinity  of  Christ  subject  of 
scorn,  483  ;  (Ibid.)  describes 
the  Passion,  484  (Ibid.);  Christ's 
want  of  success,  485  ;  seeks  to 
destroy  faith  in  the  resurrection, 
485  ;  compares  Moses  with  the 
legislators  of  Greece,  488  ;  his 
account  of  the  Creation,  489. 
The  Christians  dangerous  inno- 
vators, 490.  The  Christians  be- 
long to  no  nation,  491.  Celsus 
parodies  the  apostles'  preaching, 
492  ;  reproaches  the  Christian 
religion  with  showing  a  predilec- 
tion for  men  of  vicious  lives,  492  ; 
the  style  of  Scripture  below  the 
requirements  of  a  refined  taste, 
494  ;  the  Christian  doctrine  with- 
out originality,  496  \  looks  upon 
Jesus  Christ  as  an  impostor,  497  ; 
the  doctrine  of  demons,  498-500. 
Celsus  rejects  the  idea  of  moral 
evil  and  the  Fall,  500-502  ;  the 
theory  of  redemption,  502  ;  the 
miracles  of  Christ,  504.  Human 
nature,  505-508.  Negation  of 
freedom,  508. — "In  Cantic." 
The  Divine  word  slumbers  in  the 
heart  of  the  unbelievers,  567. — ■ 
"  Contra  Celsum."  The  unbelief 
of  the  Jews,  569-570  (Ibid.) 
The  historic  claims  of  the  Old 
Testament,  571  (Ibid.)  The 
glory  of  the  new  religion  that  it  is 
mindful  of  those  who  have  no 
earthly  heritage,  572  (Ibid.) 
Answer  to  charge  of  leading 
astray,  574  (Ibid.)  Faith  courts  in- 
quiry, 577,  578  (Ibid.)  Chris- 
tianity meets  the  true  needs  of 
the  soul,  579  (Ibid.)  Exalts 
the    dignity    of    human    nature, 


583  (Ibid.)  Difference  between 
Christian  miracles  and  magic, 
384- 

Otto.  "  In  Opera  Justin."  Attri- 
butes the  Letter  of  Diognetes  to 
Justin,  591. 

Ozanam.  "  The  Germans  and  the 
Franks." — On  the  love  of  liberty 
among  the  Gauls,  56  (Ibid.) 
Worship  of  nature  the  basis  of 
religion  among  the  Gauls,  59 
(Ibid.)  The  mythology  of  the 
Germans,  64. 

Pearson.  On  the  genuineness  of 
the  Epistles  of  Ignatius,  631  (Note 
B). 

Philostratus.  "  Life  of  Apollo- 
nius  of  Tyana."  The  doctrine 
and  disciples  of  Apollonius,  513. 
Imitates  Christ,  514.  The  ana- 
logies between  Apollonius  and 
Christ  palpable,  515.  Apollonius 
simply  a  magician,  518.  His 
doctrine  contains  nothing  original, 

519. 

Photius.  "Codex."  Origen  de- 
posed by  the  Synod,  314.  The 
obligations  of  Dionysius  to  Ori- 
gen, 350.  Methodius'  writings, 
357.  On  the  authorship  of  the 
"  Philosophoumena,"  637,  639, 
640. 

Planck.  "Studien  und  Kritik." 
On  scorn  of  Philosophy  a  fatal 
moral  symptom,  467.  Lucian 
was  acquainted  with  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  468. 

Pliny.  "Epist."  On  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Christian  religion,  98, 
100  (Ibid.)  On  Christianity 
being  a  crime,  101.  How  the 
persecutions  were  conducted,  102. 

Pontius.  "Vita  Cypr."  Cseci- 
lius  takes  Cyprian  into  his  family, 
418  (Ibid.)  Cyprian's  appear- 
ance, 420,  424  (Ibid.)  His 
maturity  of  character  in  early  life, 
423  (Ibid.)  The  sympathy  of 
the  people  when  he  was  before 
the  tribunal,  437. 

Porphyry.      "Epist.  ad.  Marcell." 


INDEX   OF   AUTHORS. 


653 


Clings  to  the  religion  of  his 
father,  521. 

Reynaud.    "  Druidisme."    On  the 

ancient  religion  of  Gaul,  47. 
Redepenning.      "Origen."    The 

Philosophers  of  Alexandria,  267. 
The  School  of  the  Catechists,  269, 
270.  Origen  leads  Beryl  to  for- 
sake his  error,  324. 

RENAN.  The  Fragments  of  Melito's 
Apology,  531. 

Rothe.  On  the  genuineness  of  the 
Epistles  of,  St.  Ignatius,  631 
(Note  B). 

Routh.  "Reliq.  Sacrse."  On 
Adrian's  letter  to  Fondanus,  104 
(Ibid.)  On  the  persecution  of 
the  Jews,  105.  On  the  steadfast- 
ness of  the  Christians  under  per- 


secution, 


Dionysius    love 


of  free  discussion,  344.  The 
eloquence  of  Theognostus,  351. 
The  martyrdom  of  Pierius,  352. 

SALVIANI.       "De    Gubern.    Dei." 

On  the  respect  for  women  among 

the  Gauls,  55. 
Semisch.      "Justin  der  Martyrer." 

Letter  to  Diognetes  not  the  work 

of  Justin  Martyr,  591. 

Tacitus.  "  Get-mania."  On  the 
religion  of  the  Gauls,  59. 

Theodoret.  ' '  Historyof Heresies. " 
Borrowed  largely  from  the  "Phi- 
losophoumena,"  635,  640. 

Tschirner.  "Gesch.  der  Apol." 
On  the  calumnies  against  the 
Christians,  441.  Christianity  meets 
with  the  most  deadly  opposition 
from  the  Jew,  449. 

Tertullian.  On  the  success  of 
Christian  missions,  3. — "Adv. 
Judaeos."  On  the  eloquence  of 
the  martyr's  death.  —  "  Dial,  cum 
Tryph."  On  continuance  of  mi- 
racles, 10.  "Ad.  Scap.," 
Disease  cured  by  prayer  and 
anointing  with  oil,  14. — "  De 
Idol."  On  the  position  of 
the     Christian     in     the     Roman 


Empire,  69-7 1  (Ibid.)  On  what 
is  due  to  Caesar,  75. — "Apol." 
On  the  fury  of  the  multitude, 
77  (Ibid.)  Christians  con- 
demned without  inquiry,  87. — 
"Ad  Martyr."  Encouraging  the 
confessors,  139. — "  De  Fuga  in 
Persec."  On  buying  off  a  con- 
fessor  with  money,  143  (Ibid.) 
On  seeking  safety  by  flight, 
144,  145. — "Contra  Gnost."  On 
suffering  for  truth,  147,  148. — • 
"Apol."  On  luxury  and  ambi- 
tion, 150  (Ibid.)  The  true 
causes  of  war,  famine,  and  pesti- 
lence, 152,  153.  On  the  charge 
of  Christians  being  useless  mem- 
bers of  society,  154.  On  suffer- 
ings cheerfully  accepted,  155, 
156. — "Ad  Scap."  On  Chris- 
tian steadfastness  in  persecution, 
163.  Refutes  the  charges  against 
the  Christians,  164,  165. — "De 
Prescript."  On  Clement  the  im- 
mediate successor  of  St.  Peter, 
219. — "De  Pcenit."  On  the  cor- 
rupting influence  of  idolatry,  378. 
— "  Testimonium  Animae."  Ter- 
tullian's  secret  uneasiness,  379. 
— "  De  Patientia."  His  impa- 
tience, 381. — "Ad  Uxor."  Can- 
not understand  the  desire  for 
children,  384.— "Ad  Martyr." 
Congratulates  the  martyrs  on 
escaping  the  influences  of  pagan 
society,  385. — "  De  Spectac." 
The  delights  of  Christians,  386 
(Ibid.)  The  speedy  return  of 
Christ,  387  (Ibid.)  Joy  in 
anticipating  the  doom  of  his 
enemies,  388.  —  "Apologia." 
His  mockery  of  the  Olympian 
gods,  390.  — "  De  Prescript." 
Ill-,  intolerance  of  heresy,  392. 
—  "De  Pcenitentia."  His  inward 
struggles,  393. — "  De  Patientia." 
Eulogium  on  patience,  394, 
395.  —  "  De  Cultu  Femin."  Con- 
demns adornment,  403.  —  "  De 
Pudicitia."  Adultery  the  worst 
apostasy,  404.  — "  Adv.  Marc." 
His  asperity   towards  the  Greek 


654 


THE   EARLY  YEARS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 


philosophers,  406. — "  De  Came 
Christi."  The  humanity  of  Christ 
no  mere  semblance,  408. — "  Adv. 
Marc."  Magnifies  the  beauty  of 
the  visible  universe,  410. — "  De 
Resur.  Carnis."  The  material 
and  higher  world  one,  41 1. 
Contrasted  with  Origen,  413. — 
"  De  Testim.  Animae."  Appeal 
should  be  made  to  conscience 
before  the  Scripture,  596-598. — 
"Apol."     The  authority  of  Scrip- 


ture, 599  (Ibid.)  The  humilia- 
tions of  Christ  formed  part  of  the 
Divine  plan,  599  (Ibid.)  Chris- 
tianity alone  has  claim  to  man's 
allegiance,  601. 

Valerius      Maximus.        Defines 
Druidism    a     new    Pythagorism, 

5°- 
Vaucher  (M.   Pierre).      On  the 
genuineness    of   the    Epistles    of 
Ignatius,  631. 


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